Sword Dancers' Chronicles: The Death Oath
by TheLightVictorious
Summary: Four years after the events of SAO, Laughing Coffin initiates another Death Game, reigning in over eighty thousand players and taking over every game server in the world. Will they achieve their dreams of making this new Death Game last forever? Only time will tell... time and the swords of the legendary heroes who stand in their way. (Formerly "SAO: Death Game 2")
1. Chapter 1: Welcome Back

Players suddenly found themselves in an immense, empty space. Floating above the huge crowd was a large timer of sorts: a circular shape and at its center was the insignia of the old player-killer guild, the Laughing Coffin. Below the insignia, a timer was counting down from one minute, eleven seconds.

More players continued to be teleported in. Another number appeared, this one much larger, and going up with each flash of light that brought a player into this empty space. 79,234, and climbing rapidly.

Klein was the first in the group to appear. His hands were over his ears, but when he came in, he took his hands off, and opened his eyes to see the mass of players… and the confusion. "What's the big deal?" Before he got any response, he noticed something missing… in fact, he noticed everything missing. He had no weapons and no armor. Upon further inspection, his inventory had been emptied out completely, and his stats and level reset. It was the same for everyone else. "What?!"

Shock. Confusion… Panic.

Asuna was the next one in, and then Leafa. "Klein?" Asuna said. "Klein, what's happening?"

"Maybe it has something to do with that." Leafa pointed up towards the countdown timer. As Asuna and Klein both looked up, dread swept over them. Laughing Coffin was involved, and this couldn't be good.

Forty-two seconds.

Sinon, Yuuki, Agil and Silica were the next to join. And while they were realizing the same things Klein already knew, Kirito and Lizbeth joined them.

Kirito immediately saw the timer. "Laughing… C-coffin?" In a moment of quick thinking, he opened his player inventory to find it empty as the rest had. Then, he went to the game menu.

Terror gripped the group as they all realized that the option to log out had been removed from the menu. Any calm left was gone. As more players realized this all around them, they sunk to the floor. They cried. The noise picked up, but it was all suddenly silenced by a distorted voice that came from seemingly nowhere.

Thirty-nine seconds.

"Welcome," the voice said. "I want to tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a man who had a grand vision. A vision of a new, fantastical world where the stakes were higher than ever before. A world called Sword Art Online. In his ideal world, we, the players would leave our old, boring lives, and lead new ones, here, in the realm of virtual reality. That man's name was Kayaba Akihiko."

"Is he serious?" Kirito suddenly shouted. Players all around were panicking even more.

Twenty seconds.

"But a misguided few sought to destroy that vision, and they succeeded. That's where we come in! The Laughing Coffin has dedicated countless hours… days upon days… constructing a new world to fulfill the true vision of Sword Art Online. And with the computer power from all of the servers controlling all of the VRMMOGRP's all over the world, we have made that vision… a reality. The work of art that was Sword Art Online has been made new, with SAO: Death Game 2! Welcome, players. And a special welcome back to our old friends from Aincrad."

Four seconds.

"Kirito." Asuna looked at the hero swordsman fearfully. "It's impossible, right… they can't kill us. Please—"

Suddenly, they were all teleported away again as the timer hit zero. "Kirito-kun!" Asuna shouted for him. He grabbed hold of her from behind.

"You may be thinking to yourselves," the voice continued. "No, it isn't possible. They made it so it couldn't happen again. So let me explain… In the months following the SAO incident, a lab technician working on the AmuSphere named Sugou Nobuyuki was experimenting with ways to make the device control human emotions… human thoughts… no, the human consciousness, the soul altogether! While he was arrested, some of his assistants working secretly with him were not. They have joined us. No, the AmuSphere cannot cause your brain to fry with electricity, but what it can do is erase you… all that makes you you. And your body will turn into a vegetable, only able to survive on life support."

"Kirito, please… tell me it's not possible."

Kirito thought about it, considered all he knew, and looked to his worried friends. "It's possible…" He was as nervous as the rest of them.

"It will be different though. It's not just swords here… anything you can create in this world you can use. Perhaps someday you will even harness magic. Or perhaps we will… If you die in the game, you will not simultaneously die in the real world. You will be stuck, consciously observing your surroundings. Unable to do anything from your dead avatar. This state will last for fifteen days. If another player finds a way to bring you back within fifteen days, your life will be saved, but you will lose ten percent of all of your stats, levels and items. Be warned, though… the items and abilities required to bring a player back from the dead are very rare, and only found at very high levels. In other words, if you die here, now! You're what they say… S.O.L."

Players began to panic further, looking around, some starting to run. "Kirito," Klein said. "What should we do?"

"Run." It was not Kirito. It was the voice again. "Run because in commemoration of this glorious day, we have decided to perform a culling. Yes… run. Those of us who have joined the game are here among you, armed, unlike you! We're going to celebrate by killing 500 of you right now!"

"Run!" Kirito shouted, agreeing wholeheartedly with the suggestion. No one in the group disagreed, and all of them started dashing away from the huge mass of players. On the way, someone grabbed Silica's arm, and she screamed.

All of them turned around to see another player holding a knife was about to strike her. Without hesitating, they all jumped to her rescue.

"I do think the next part is possibly the best new feature of our world. I do hope you enjoy our wonderful graphics update."

Lizbeth tackled the threatening player, and the knife was knocked out of his hand. Where it flung, it slashed her arm, leaving a cut, though small, and a trickle of blood. "Wh-blood?" She was frightened at it, and there was more. "It… it hurts."

Before she could go farther, another player picked up the knife, and it was gone. Kirito picked Lizbeth up, and pulled her into the sprint, Silica was ahead now. The group ran through the crowd quickly, being wary of anymore player-killers in their flight.

"Guys, guys! It actually hurts! It's not supposed to hurt!"

Kirito already knew, it was obvious. They turned the pain absorbers down… or even off.

"I almost forgot to mention. Pain absorbers… we turned them down a few notched… to seventy-five percent. It's really nothing… but it should make the game a lot more fun." After that, the voice burst into a mad laughter, and was suddenly cut off.

Once they made it away from the massive player group, Kirito and the others stopped and caught their breath. "What's with these new vitals?" Lizbeth asked. Everyone's vital gauges were now expanded. In addition to hit points there was an orange bar labeled "energy," a purple bar labeled "spirit," and a black bar labeled "will."

"I don't know," Agil said. "But it looks like we won't be able to run like we used to. My energy is already low."

"And I'm… I'm actually out of breath," Yuuki said.

"It's interesting that we can't see each other's vitals… except for HP." Kirito was looking at each of his group mates. "We should form a group." He opened the player menu, and took a gasp as he opened another set of options. "Our friends lists… they're empty!" After that, he quickly began inviting everyone into his group, and re-adding them as friends.

"Why would they do that, though?" Leafa asked.

"If we knew who was in the game, it would be easier to find a group to join, and easier to protect each other in that first slaughter." Agil was calmly clicking accept buttons to invites from Kirito, and then sent out friend invites to the rest. Everyone followed suite.

"Hai," Asuna said. "It couldn't have taken them too long to get their initial killing done… not with so many players. Should we go back and try to organize?"

"It could still be dangerous," Leafa said.

Another couple of players caught up with Kirito and the others. They didn't recognize them, but they were panting, and they collapse to catch their breath.

"It's always dangerous," Sinon said. "But we would all have a better chance if we stuck together. We don't' know anything about this world. It's not like there was a beta test…"

"My blacksmithing is gone," Lizbeth said. "We don't have any weapons or armor. If we go out there—"

"We have to join the other players," Kirito said. "Lizbeth is right. If we try to strike it out without any gear, whatever monsters we'll run into will surely kill us. I don't want to believe that they've done this. I don't want to believe that we're in another death game. But it's possible."

"Yeah, why risk it?" Klein said. "As bad as Laughing Coffin is, they're still gamers. They wouldn't want to just kill us all right off the bat. I bet they planned on us having a few days to learn their new system."

The two other players looked over at the group. "You… you you…" one of them said… or tried to. They both suddenly went over to the group, and dropped to their knees. "Help us!"

Lizbeth, who they had come over to, tried to get away from them, feeling creeped out. "Uh, help?"

"You said 'another death game' like you've done this before."

"We're not stupid. You're SAO survivors. We've never been in a death game. Help us survive."

"Fine," Kirito said. "That's what we'll have to do."

"Kirito… what do you mean?" Yuuki asked.

Klein jumped in, excited and prideful. "As survivors of the SAO incident, it's our duty to help everyone who's never been in a death game!" He held up his fist and smiled. "We've done it before. We can survive again. And this time everyone's looking up to us."

"I think you may be a little too happy about that," Leafa said. The whole group was shocked at his enthusiasm.

He quickly got a hold of himself, and smiled innocently. "Not that this is a good thing, I'm just saying that we should do what we can to help."

"He's right," Agil said. He began walking back up towards the group. "We're not only survivors, but Kirito is the hero of SAO. Many of us fought on the assault team."

"True… I do have to admit, I did lose something when that ended… now my strength in the game can really mean something again." Asuna seemed to be cheering up.

"Easy for you to say," Lizbeth said. "Some of us weren't exactly top level players and game-ending champions you know."

Klein gave Lizbeth's hair a good ruffling. "Don't worry, you've got some pros here to help you, then!" It earned him a swift smack, and he stopped.

* * *

><p>"Alright, everyone." Kirito was addressing a large group of players. Not the huge mass, but a group of about a hundred or so. "Now, let's all figure out what we do know about this new world."<p>

A younger player, looking to be no older than thirteen, raised her hand.

"Yes?" Kirito asked, looking confused as to why she was acting as if in class.

"It's scary."

Kirito paused for a moment, unable to think of how to respond. "Y-yes," he said. He thought for a moment. Most of these players were probably new to the whole concept. "I suppose that's actually a good place to start. So… yes! It's scary. The monsters here are real. They can kill you."

Another player raised his hand. This time it was a full grown man.

"We… we don't have to do the hand raising thing."

"Right," he said, standing up to speak. "Who put you in charge?"

Kirito frowned at the man. The crowd seemed to agree to some degree with the man's question.

"I say we hold an election! We don't even know who he is? Is he qualified to tell us what to do?"

"Yes, I—"

"Come now, Kirito, tell us why we should be following you."

"I was about to, you see, I'm—"

"You're just a nobody!"

"He's not nobody!" A voice struck over the rest of the crowd. A player stood up, this one a far more serious demeanor on his face. "Don't you know who you're talking to? I sure do… That is a SAO veteran."

Kirito blinked. "V-veteran?"

"Kirito, I remember him from my own time in that game. A legend among the lower levels. A soldier on the front lines who single-handedly defeated a floor boss on the sixty-fouth floor!"

"It was the seventy—"

"Even better! A ten armed demon with three heads! And it breathed ice!"

The crowd seemed quite impressed, but also disbelieving. "N-no, it wasn't like that, and I didn't so much—"

"Hey, I was there too! I helped!" Klein chimed in.

"Maybe I am thinking of a different—"

"Quiet!" Asuna shouted. The whole group shut up. "All you need to know is that Kirito was an SAO survivor, and he not only fought boldly on the front lines but always served the greater good of all players! He has made one vow that he's kept true even long after the end of the game. Kirito will never let a party member die, and he won't let you down either."

"Thank you, Asuna." Kirito took a deep breath before continuing. "Okay, so this world is scary. In most games, you don't have to worry about death. Your avatar will just respawn, and even in one-shot games, you, the player, never have to face death. It's different here. The first lesson of the death game is this: play it safe, always. Be a survivor. This makes me a bit of a hypocrite, but don't try to go solo in this world. And don't try to be a hero. Now… we don't know anything about this game. It's brand new to everyone. Has anyone figure out how the game works?"

A player stood up from the crowd. "One thing I noticed as soon as I got here was that we are in a fully destructible environment. You can pick up a stone, a broken plate, a handful of dirt and put it into your inventory."

"That's a good place to start. Anything else?"

"There are skills in this game." Another player smiled as she stood up, glad to be helpful. "Back in the ruins, I picked up a stone that was used in a building, and an icon came up that told me I accessed the construction skill."

"I was attacked," another player spoke. "I punched the other player in the face, and it said my hand-to-hand combat skill increased by one."

"Interesting," Kirito said. "It seems skills have to be discovered here… You!" He pointed to the woman who spoke a moment ago. "Open your player menu and open what you have on construction."

She nodded, and did so. "There's a list of unknown abilities, and each of them have a skill requirement to learn them. I have… three I can use right now. Shape. Place. Connect."

"It sounds like the in-game skill tables are a lot more advanced than what we've previously seen," Asuna said. She looked around, and picked up a pair of sticks on the ground. She thought for a moment, and start to try and light a fire. It kicked on within a few moments. "Skill discovered," she said, reading a pop-up. "Cooking." After a brief look through the cooking charts in her menu, she smiled. "It looks like this game allows for a lot more customization, but that you'll actually have to know a little more about something, like how to cook in the real world, for instance."

"If that's true… it's possible those skills could be amplified by our real-world abilities." Kirito performed a solid punch through the air. A pop-up appeared. "Skill discovered," he said. "Hand-to-hand combat. Level four."

"I think we need to make a list of priorities," another player spoke. He was taller than most. "We should start to gather things we can eat, and preparing shelter. We should also try to make weapons we can use in case we have to fight."

Kirito looked around. "If we want food, we'll have to hunt. Weapons first. How do we make—"

"Tada!" The young girl from earlier was speaking again. She held in her hand a makeshift club, crafted from a rock, a stick and a vine she found lying on the ground.

"H-how did you—" Kirito seemed surprised.

"I don't know. I kind of just took the items and started making them work together. My hands were like they already knew how to do it." A pop-up appeared. "Skill discovered. Weapon crafting… basic. Level one."

"Okay!" Kirito said, clapping his hands once and looking rather happy. "Split up into groups. Group up into builders, crafters, and hunters. Builders work on shelter. Crafters work on making things we might need… food, first aid, water buckets… Hunters, make some simple weapons out of what you can find on the ground and come with me."

Everyone split up and started working on their skills. Kirito and his group split off after making some basic weapons from sticks and stones, and started looking for wild animals they could cook.

* * *

><p>The group of hunters included all of the group Kirito had originally come here with, as well as about thirty other players they hadn't known for long. They all had very simple weapons. Kirito had used a sharp rock as a knife to turn a large stick into a sword. He kept the rock as a secondary weapon and tool. Agil had a club like the little girl had made. Klein begged Kirito to make him a sword as well, and so he also had a sword. Sinon had crafted a flimsy bow from wood, and had worked the most on her weapon, having to craft several arrows. Yuuki had followed Kirito's example, and made her own sword. Lizbeth had a large piece of a tree trunk as a shield, and had crafted a smaller wooden sword. Silica's weapon was the simplest, a rock made into a dagger. Leafa and Asuna both tied a sharp rock to the end of a stick, making spears.<p>

The rest of the larger group had mostly the same types of weapons, though some just had regular sticks, figuring that they would replace them soon anyways. As they wandered into the plains, they spotted a herd of wild pigs.

"Alright," Kirito said. "I have no idea how hard combat will be in this game, but I mean... this should be pretty easy."

"Charge!" Klein rushed into battle, and the rest of the group followed. Kirito sighed and was last to run into the fray.

There were nine pigs in all, so there was three or four hunters to each animal. Wild pigs of course have tusks, and can hurt someone, especially those who aren't careful. But the wild animals were no match for the raid-sized party.

They squealed and ran around, eluding strikes and even knocking a couple players on their feet as the battle raged on. Asuna was the first to make a kill. She plunged her spear into one of the monster's backs, and struck lucky, hitting its heart. The attack also caused her spear to break, so she and Leafa carried the pig away, back to the group to try and cut it up and cook it.

After being knocked onto his back, Klein was in trouble. One of the foul creatures had stepped on top of him, with all of its sixty or so pounds of weight, crushing the cloth of his shirt and being in-general very uncomfortable. Fortunately enough, Lizbeth was there, and she used her shield to knock the pig off of him.

After squirming to a standing position, the thing tried to escape. It was caught, however, with an arrow, hitting its side. It wasn't nearly enough damage though. The pig didn't even blink! Instead, it charged at Sinon, who had loosed the arrow. It tackled her to the ground, and hit her hard, but not as hard as she hit her head against the dirt.

She cringed as her health bar dropped about a three percent, but sighed in relief as it stopped well before hitting ninety-five percent. Kirito jumped in to save the day, chopping down at the animal to have his sword break in two over the invincible leathery skin. "I don't think these weapons are really working out."

"Got one!" Yuuki shouted, holding a smaller pig over her back, and heading back for camp.

"We're just not surfacing enough damage." Agil was laughing hysterically at the situation. They really needed better weapons, he decided, and gave up on the battle, walking away.

Sadly, Kirito called in a full retreat. The group nodded in agreement. What else could they do? Most of their weapons were broken, and the pigs were too agile so they were dodging most of their attacks anyways.

"Welcome back to level one," Silica said as they walked away from the mob.

"Oh woe is us," one of the new players said. "Our great hero, bested by a lowly pig."

"Ehh, we'll get better. It's mostly that our weapons suck. Maybe we can find some carrots or apples or something." Kirito shrugged off the defeat.

When the group returned, Yuuki, Leafa, and Asuna had a laugh at the boys' failure to return with any food.

"Laugh it up ladies," Klein said. "If I had my samurai sword I could have taken all those pigs on my own."

"Wow, Klein," Silica said. "I never knew you were so brave."

"If we had some vegetables we could make a lot of stew, and probably have enough to feed all of us."

"You make the best stews, Asuna…"

"Leader sir!" the little girl from before had come up to Kirito.

"Sir? Call me Kirito," he said. "What's your name?"

"My name is…" she looked confused for a second, and looked down at her vitals. She gave him her avatar name instead of her real one. "Faefae. But we found some carrots and potatoes and stuff while you were gone."

"Carrots!" Asuna snapped to attention. She could make her stew!

"Potatoes…" Silica smiled, dreaming of French Fries.

"Stuff…" Klein seemed happy about something, but no one could say what.

* * *

><p>As the sun started to set, everyone had prepared shelter, food, and some basic supplies were being added to a communal supply. Asuna taught some others how to make her stew, and they rationed it out to the large group.<p>

As they finished their meals, Kirito stood up and addressed the group. "Tomorrow," he said, getting everyone's attention. "We'll try to team up with the other big groups forming right now. We'll put our heads together and we'll all work towards making a working town we can all live in. That's how we'll survive. And anyone who wants to train can… the wilderness, which appears to be an immense forest, awaits those who yearn for combat. But to the rust of you, who just want to make it through this nightmare, a new town... that's how you'll make it. Good job everyone! Together, we can accomplish great things in this new world, and one day, surely, we will wake up in our own bodies again. We'll have made it!"

Everyone cheered, and Kirito met up with Klein and the others… the core group. "We're leaving tomorrow at sunrise."

"What?" All of them spoke in unison.

"Kirito, what about—"

He wasn't bothered. "Them? They're fine now. I told them how to live, and if they join up with other groups, they won't need us anymore. They already don't need us. The best way we can help them is to do what we do best. Go out there and fight on the front lines."

"Kirito," Silica said. "There's no point. It's not like SAO. There's no end game objective. They didn't say they would let us logout if we beat the game."

"They," Kirito said, looking a little angry. "Laughing Coffin. They're why we need to train. The biggest threat to the players isn't this world. It's them."

"So what?" Asuna asked. "You want to find them and kill them? Is that what you're saying?"

"I don't know… but they have only one intention here. They want to kill players again like they did back in SAO. Somehow, we've got to stop them."

"Kirito, we don't have any weapons or armor." Agil was stern.

"Yeah, how are we going to fight anything if we can't kill those pigs?" Klein said.

"The weapons we made, we made from sticks… sticks lying on the ground. I noticed when I first started using them, their durability was already below twenty-five percent. If we pull some branches from a live tree, we'll be able to make stronger weapons. We'll work our way up from there."

"And are we going to get metal to make real weapons with sticks and rocks?" Lizbeth didn't believe in this plan at all.

Kirito held out his hand after pulling an item from inventory. It was dirt, but he used his fingers to sift through it, and in the dirt, there were shiny scraps. "The dirt around the ruins is filled with these. We just need to make some better tools to find more of these, and we'll go out where new players can't catch up to us with the weapons we make out of wood."

"Wouldn't it be faster to stick with the rest of the groups?" Yuuki asked.

"No!" Kirito was pretty firm about this. "If we bring them out there, they'll screw up. They'll get hurt or die. They're not used to a game like this, where you have to be much more careful about the fights you pick. They'll hold us back, and we'll rush them into fights they can't handle."

"We'll leave when they're all asleep," Asuna said.

"What? Asuna, you're agreeing with this?" It was Leafa's question but the whole group was surprised.

"No," Asuna said. "But Kirito… I haven't seen Kirito like this in a long time. I think it's a bad idea, but I trust him."

"Thank you, Asuna," Kirito said.

"You better be right about this," Asuna said, leaning against him.

* * *

><p>"Got a lot of dirt, I hope," Lizbeth said. It was very late at night, and everyone else was asleep. The group all spoke in whispers. "We'll need a ton of those iron scraps."<p>

"I know. I got as much as I could," Asuna said.

"We'll sift through them once we have tools and we're away from here." Kirito was already starting to move towards the forest.

"Back at it again already," Klein said.

"Yep," Kirito said.

"The front lines… the assault team." Asuna was almost as serious about the situation as Kirito was. The two of them were back the way they were during the Sword Art Online incident.

"I don't know what the future holds for us," Kirito said. "But us, together… we'll survive. Just like always. And we'll make this world better by being our best."

With that, the group vanished into the night.


	2. Chapter 2: What's Yours is Mine

Armed with an iron sword, Kirito lunged at a large hog, slashing at it and knocking its hit points down below fifty percent. Before he could strike again, an arrow flew past him, hitting the animal in an eye, killing it. Kirito turned to hold up his weapon in defense, blocking an attack with another beast's large tusks.

Unlike the pigs from before, these wild hogs were larger, and had more hit points. They also had higher offensive stats, and were more prone to attack rather than to flee. They were level four, three whole levels higher than their smaller, critter class counterparts.

Agil brought down a large, stone club against the hog's head, causing it to pull away from Kirito, stunned. As it wasn't moving, Kirito moved forward, gutting the animal and finishing it off.

Altogether, there were six of these hogs, and they were all down now. "Great," Klein said. He looked at a weapon in his hand, an iron sword, broken in two from the fight. "Another one bites the dust."

"I'm sorry, guys," Lisbeth smiled at the group. "Blacksmithing isn't what it was in SAO. I can't just swing my hammer and automatically generate a good weapon."

"It's nothing, Liz," Asuna said, looking at a broken sword of her own. "We're all low level again. It's a work in progress, we all understand."

"Just like we understand your cooking is too a work in progress," Silica teased.

"I don't have any cookware! It's not fair, I have to cook on rocks and with wooden spoons."

"So we'll be having pork steak again?" Klein asked. "I'd give anything for a good burger."

"Find me some bread, and I'd be happy to make you one."

"I could use some proper blacksmithing tools too. And a furnace instead of a fire pit."

"I think we should try finding some NPC's in the forest," Kirito said. "If we can fight humanoids, they might have weapons and some actual usable gear instead of meat and bones."

"I can go do some scouting while you get your weapons fixed and make lunch." Yuuki was already walking towards the forest in the distance. She stopped though, as she saw something moving ahead. She pointed and proudly proclaimed, "I found some!"

The group all moved up onto the hill where Yuuki was standing. In the distance, there was dust being kicked up, and the sound of hooves beating against the ground. They were too far away to see if they had anything useful.

"Get ready," Kirito said, shifting into a combat stance. "They might not be friendly." The group all did the same. Those with broken weapons stayed a few feet farther back.

As the horses came closer, green cursors appeared above their heads. Kirito lowered his guard. "They're players," he said. "Not NPC's." Everyone lowered their guard and sighed miserably.

"Players riding horses?" Asuna asked. "Then that means—" A look of shock was on her face, and then a hint of anger. "They've gone farther in the game than us."

Before much more could be said, the riders reached the party, and slowed down at the approach. "Howdy!" One of them was young, a girl looking to be about fourteen or fifteen years old. "What are you folks doing out here?"

"Howdy?" Klein, as well as everyone else was confused by her wording… and her accent.

"You know this isn't a western, right?" Sinon asked.

"Naw, that's just how I normally speak." She dismounted her horse, and walked up to greet them. "Mmy name's Gretch. I'm Texas born and raised, so you can call me Tex. Where do ya'll come from?"

"Texas?" Kirito asked. "And… you speak Japanese?"

"No, no no. We was all confused about that too at first, but then Germany figured it out."

"Ya." Another player, tall and fair of skin, dismounted. He wore heavy looking leather armor. "I remembered from an article I read before logging into this game. I guess the… Laughing… Coffin? I guess they took advantage of it. But programmers were working on a mental translation software to be implemented into the game next year. They must have got it done in a rush to get more players together from all over the world, instead of having to restrict their player base to Japan."

"That's... that's amazing!" Lisbeth said. "So we're speaking and hearing Japanese, and you're speaking and hearing German or… in your case, English."

"Mhm!" Tex looked at their weapons. "Where'd you get them there fancy shiny metal weapons?"

"You mean," Kirito said. "You don't have any?"

Tex shook her head, and frowned. "Sadly, we haven't had any luck with weapons, except for this one!" She pulled from her enemy a steel knife, one of the ones the Laughing Coffin had used in the initial slaughter. "Found it on the ground, and so they made me the leader of the Vearth Scouting Union."

"The… vee-earth—"

"You must have left before the players organized, then," Germany said. "By the end of the first day, a lot of huge groups had formed, and started getting used to the new world. Then the next day those groups started coming together. By day four, we had a nice little town going, and it was growing still when we left."

It had been a full week now. "Good," Kirito said. He looked at their levels. They were level two or level one. His own group ranged from Silica at level seven, to himself and Asuna, both at level eleven. "You're not as high level as I thought you'd be… where did you find horses?"

"They're all the way on the other side of town. Ever since we leveled up our riding, we've been scouting the plains, looking for more resowhatch'yamacallits."

"Resources… did you ever pick up a textbook in the real world?" Germany asked.

"Hey, I went to school!"

"Not much of it."

"Did you find any metal?" Lisbeth asked. "We've been recycling our weapons and tools since we got here. And they were originally made of metal scraps we found in the dirt around the destroyed buildings."

"Metal? Oh shoot, we found a mine with copper and tin just a few minutes ago. We was on our way back to town to tell them about it. Wanna see it?"

"Yes!"

"Well Germany can take the lead from here back to town. I'll take ya."

"Tex," Germany said, calling her over. "Can we trust them?"

"Yes," Kirito said. He pointed to them, and then above his head. "The same way we know we can trust you. If you kill another player in this world, the cursor on your character turns red."

"How do we know you're not lying?" Germany asked him, looking at his iron sword.

"I guess… you don't."

"It's no matter, Germany. It's my choice, and you don't have to worry about it. Head back to town and tell them the news. These strangers'll help me make the first haul back to town, won't ya?" Kirito nodded, and invited Tex to his party. Tex left her horse to Germany, and started on foot. "It's not too far, about ten minutes on horseback, and probably no more than forty on foot."

"Lisbeth," Agil said as the group started moving.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we have enough metal to make some mining pics?" She nodded. "Good, we'll be needing them."

"So you're a blacksmither, eh?"

"Hai."

"You'll be loads of help when we start hauling in these ores. Pretty much no one has any real weapons."

"Actually," Kirito said. "We'll be heading straight from the mine to the forest area. We want to keep leveling."

"Kirito?" Asuna said. "Are you sure? We might want to at least check them out."

"No, we move forward."

"Why?" Silica asked.

"Aww, well, I'll hope ya'll decide to come back. We're building something pretty great there. Pretty soon the town will be a safe haven for players. A lot of them just want to survive, they don't want to have to fight to do it."

"We want to survive too. And we'll do what we've always done to survive."

"Kirito," Agil said. "We're hopelessly under-geared. We could do ourselves some good."

"Kirito?" Asuna asked. "I'm still standing with you… but I think—"

"Fine, fine," he said. "We'll go back to town with Tex and see what we can do to help everyone."

"Whoopie!" Tex was excited, jumping up into the air and running ahead. "The more the merrier, right? Come on, we're close now."

* * *

><p>The mine was a cave going down underground that opened on the side of a hill. It seemed to go pretty deep, but there were rocks with oranges and shining whites outside of the cave. Lisbeth pulled out some wood she'd gathered early, and a few rocks she was using to hammer metals with. She took some scraps of broken weapons from the party, and started up a fire to heat them up with.<p>

"Normally, I would think you couldn't heat iron up hot enough with a wood fire to shape it." Asuna watched her work.

"Yeah, but this is still a game. Maybe it's why they're coming out so weak though." She threw the scraps all together into the flames, and a few seconds later, pulled them out, hot, and started hammering them with her stones. Soon, she had pumped out two mining pics. "Alright, whose strength stat is highest?"

"That'd be me," Agil said, taking one of the pickaxes, and going to swing it at a rock. A couple swings later, chunks of copper or broke off, and the group cheered.

Lisbeth went to work too, and the two spent a while mining. Meanwhile, Asuna pulled up some of the pork, and skewered it on some sticks to cook over the fire.

"It's just like the countryside," Tex said, "Only a little greener. I wonder if this is what is was like for the cowboys on the frontier."

"Maybe if we had guns," Sinon said.

"Well yeah, and the guns."

"Kirito!" Lisbeth shouted, running from the mine. The group all snapped to attention.

"What's wrong, Lisbeth?" Tex asked.

"The mine—" She had to stop speaking, out of breath. It took her a few moments. "Energy stats are annoying. There's something in the mine, it might be a monster!"

Tex jumped into action, pulling out her knife and heading for the mine. "Well, let's get it!"

Kirito stopped her, holding her arm. "What if it is a higher level than you?"

Tex shrugged, and Sinon pointed at her with her fingers. "You die." Then she squeezed her finger as if pulling a trigger. "Bang." Now Tex seemed worried, and looked at her new groups' levels.

"Silica is good with daggers," Kirito said, looking over to the younger member of their party.

Tex nodded, and gave the blade to Silica. Disheartened though, she sat down. "I'll leave it to you then."

Kirito put a hand on Tex's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll be sure to share any treasure with you. It's just better to be safe than sorry."

"I know. I'm just not used to this game yet."

Silica tossed the knife back and forth between her hands. "Dagger skill: 19." The rest of the group walked towards the cave behind Silica. Though Asuna's weapon was broken, she pulled out a wooden spear she'd made earlier, and Klein used a large, two-handed stone sword.

As they approached the cave, they heard a monster inside of it, and stepped into the darkness. The light from outside was enough to see where they were, even though the monster remained hidden. "Where is it?" Asuna asked.

"There!" Leafa pointed towards a dark part of the cave, where a pair of red eyes glowed in the shadows.

The group readied their weapons, and the creature came out of hiding, attacking Kirito first. With his high level, it saw him as the greatest threat. The monster was a creature that appeared to be made of stone and metal, with a rough, gray skin, and claws and teeth of tin or possibly iron.

It jumped at the swordsman, slashing at him with his claws. Kirito blocked with his weapon, and the creature dropped to the ground. It growled.

Sinon took a shot at it, and as a reaction, the monster, curled up into a ball, and rolled away from the group, back into the shadows.

"Did it run?" Asuna asked.

"It was only level six," Klein said. "Wouldn't be surprised."

"Wait!" Leafa said, pointing back to the darkness. Three more sets of eyes appeared. There.

"And here!" Yuuki pointed to another spot where more creatures seemed to be emerging.

Kirito thought for a moment, and figured it out. "We can only see their eyes in the dark. Until then we have no idea how many there are!"

Klein put up his guard, and the group started to move together.

Sinon fled the cave, and prepared to fire a shot from outside. "Lead them out into the light where we can see them!"

Kirito nodded, and the group followed him as they ran out from the cave. Creatures followed them out. Eight in total, and uncurled, ready to fight. Their levels ranged from six to eight.

"What are they?" Leafa asked. She read the name above their hit point bars. "Stone Goblin."

"Alright, play this defensively, and we'll see how to fight them first," Asuna said. The group nodded, and stayed close to one another.

The monsters attacked, all running at different members of the group, and trying to jump onto them. They were small when standing, no taller than three feet, and no shorter than two. Their height varied slightly by their levels.

Each of them was thrown back to the ground, where they curled up into their defensive ball forms, much like an armadillo. Then Kirito and his group attacked. They struck at the hard backsides of the creatures, but surfaced minimal damage.

After a couple strikes each, the creatures all jumped again, this time slashing around, some of them dealing damage to the party. Before any of the players could react, they were all back into defensive stances.

"Their skin is too strong, at least to these weapons," Kirito said.

"I'm going to try something," Sinon shouted. "Silica, get one of them to attack you, and when it jumps this time, duck!"

"Hai!"

The creatures launched into another attack, and all except for Silica focused on their defense. The players repelled the attack, but Silica ducked and rolled out of the way. Sinon fired a shot at that moment, and dealt a critical blow to the creature that attacked her.

It cried out, and curled up on the ground, dead. "That's it! When they're in their defensive positions, they can't be harmed by our weapons. But when they attack, they expose their weak bellies."

"Fight in pairs!" Kirito said. "One person draw their attacks, and when they strike, the other needs to strike while the defender repels any extra attacks."

When the creatures attacked again, they were ready. Klein paired with Agil, Leafa with Yuuki, Kirito with Asuna, and Silica with Lisbeth. Sinon fired shots from a distance during each attack to take an extra one out. Klein dodged one of the beasts attacks, and took damage from another, though it was minimal. Agil brought his club into one of its guts, and knocked it away.

It was a similar with the others. Lisbeth used her shield to knock off two attackers, and Silica came in quick to slice at one of them. The second was shot by Sinon. Asuna threw one of the goblins away with her spear, and Kirito slayed the other attacker before it reached her with a swipe of his blade. Leafa rolled out of the way of both attacks, and Yuuki cut down one of them.

The three goblins all attacked in a flurry. Asuna speared her attacker this time, and Lisbeth stabbed another. The last attacker was shot by Sinon before it reached a target.

The group had a short cheer, but the celebration was quickly interrupted by a rumbling from the cave.

"What's that?" Klein asked, pointing to a figure coming out. It was like the other creatures, but much larger, towering over them at about nine feet.

"Stone Ogre. Mini-boss?" Kirito read the description around the creature's name. "That's new."

"Level eighteen!" Klein shouted.

"Don't panic," Kirito said. "It's a fight like any other, and there's nine of us. We got this!" The group all readied for combat again. "Lisbeth, Agil, tank it. Use your shield and your large weapon to block its attacks."

"Hai!" Lisbeth said, raising her shield and approaching the beast next to Agil.

"Everyone else—"

"Yeah, we know, Kirito! Get it!" Klein jumped right into combat, swinging his sword at the monster. Before Klein reached it however, it knocked him away with a swipe of its arm. He took damage amounting to fifteen percent of his health.

"Be careful, Klein!" Asuna said.

"Sorry, I got a little excited."

The monster started to sing at Lisbeth, and she used her shield to deflect the strikes, but she was still taking small amounts of damage. "This thing hits hard!"

"Now, attack!" Kirito shouted, and the entire group leaped into action. They all run in and dealt a couple of attacks to the creature's belly. The strikes knocked it down by twelve percent of its hit points.

As expected, the monster curled up into a ball. "Alright, get ready for the next attack!" Only it seemed to stay in its ball shape. "Any second…"

"What's it doing?" Lisbeth asked, lowering her shield to see.

It began to move, rolling towards Lisbeth who quickly raised her shield again. It was fast, and plowed into her hard. She was knocked away and disarmed by the attack. Dazed, it took her more than a couple seconds to get to her feet, and she took twenty percent of her health in damage.

"That's new," Klein said.

"Okay, we can't defend against that attack," Asuna said. "We have to dodge it!"

"How?" Yuuki asked.

It turned towards Kirito, and he watched, carefully assessing the situation to learn how best to avoid the attack. Once it rolled to him, he moved to the side, and it rolled right past him. "I thought so," he said. "It can't turn once it starts rolling."

After the miss, it uncurled, and turned around. Lisbeth was back up, but Agil took to the front, deflecting its strikes to the side with his weapon. "Now, before it curls up again!" he shouted.

The group all went back to the attack. Lisbeth picked up her weapon and ran in to fight as well. Together, they brought the mini-boss down to about sixty percent of its health before it curled up again. Lisbeth picked up her shield and prepared for the next phase.

The battle continued the same, and after two more phases, they had it down to ten percent health. Things changed then. It roared and got on all fours to charge at Asuna.

"Asuna! Run!" Kirito shouted.

Asuna looked at him, and then back to the monster. She instead got low and readied her spear.

"Asuna!" Kirito shouted and ran towards her to help just as the monster was about to hit, but he was too far away.

Asuna was fine though. She had a plan of her own. When the beast met her, she raised the spear and thrust it underneath its body, driving the pointed end in and breaking the weapon halfway through. The mini-boss stood up afterwards, now at one percent health.

It reached for the impaled weapon, but then fell to the ground, dead.

"Asuna?" Kirito asked. She looked over to him and gave him their victory salute. The group then rushed over to congratulate one another on their victory, and then settled down afterwards.

"What's this?" Asuna asked as a pop-up appeared before her. "Reward? Inflicted the most damage that fight?" Her eyes lit up and she hit a button. The next moment, a long, metal spear dropped into her hands. "Did anyone else get anything like that?"

"Yes!" Lisbeth yelled. She was now equipped with an iron square shield. "Rewarded for taking the most damage that fight."

"So there's a new set of player rewards for accomplishments in a single battle…" Kirito said. The group all looked through their stat increases and then started going through the reward items.

"Iron ore," Lisbeth said. "That'll come in handy. So will these blacksmithing tools."

"Guys," Tex said, rejoining the group and pointing at the mine. "Look."

Above the cave, text appeared. It read "Small Battle Cleared. Reward: Eastern Mineshaft." The area began to change, and lights appeared in the cave. A rack with pickaxes appeared first, and then a table with some other mining gear on it.

"That's also new," Kirito said.

"I like it!" Lisbeth said. "Now all we need is a forge! We should go back to the starting area. Maybe they've built one by now!"

"It's a good idea, Kirito," Asuna said.

Kirito thought, and then nodded. "Yeah, it is. Now that we have some real metal to use. Speaking of which, Tex, we owe you some, don't we?"

"Naw, I'm fine. We got a mine and pics and stuff. That'll be good enough for everyone."

"Alright, then let's head back," Kirito said, heading off with the others.

* * *

><p>Lisbeth came to a wooden table here the others all sat and ate skewered pork and vegetable dishes. She let out a hefty sigh as she set down a cache of weapons and armor on the table, and slumped over the surface as she sat down. "Blacksmithing is hard in this world. I actually have to work."<p>

"No, you don't," Agil said.

Lisbeth glared at him. "Oh yeah? Well it drained my energy meter."

"Again, no." Agil pointed to where she could see her vitals. "It's a mechanic of this game to make you feel tired when you work continuously, so that you have to rest. But remember that it's just a stat like any other. In the real world, you're lying on a bed… a hospital bed in all likelihood, where your muscles haven't been used at all."

"I know that, dummy."

"What we were discussing," Kirito said after he cleared his throat, interrupting the conversation. "…was the mechanics of the energy vital and figuring out how it works. It's not just energy as in the amount of running and working you do."

"It takes into account your hunger and tiredness as well," Asuna cut in. "If you go long periods of time without eating or sleeping, it lowers your maximum energy values."

"Right, and it also reduces the rate at which you restore energy." Kirito took a bite of his food. "We also figured out what happens once you hit zero."

"What happens when you hit zero?" Lisbeth looked up, and looked at her energy bar. It was flashing red, sitting at only one percent.

"First, you pass out immediately," Kirito said.

"Pass out?"

"Fall to the ground. Your avatar enters a forced sleep state. This lasts for ten minutes. It's not good." Asuna had her serious face on. "When you wake up, it's even worse. You'll restore to five percent, but afterwards, you'll drain faster. If you hit zero again, you lose hit points."

"One percent every five seconds," Silica said.

"That's steep."

"Until you get a full four hours of sleep. You can also starve."

"St-starve?" Lisbeth seemed worried now, and grabbed a hunk of pork to chew on.

"If you haven't eaten in twelve hours, you'll gain a debuff: Hungry, with an eight hour duration." Asuna sighed and took a bite of her vegetables. "And once that wears off, it will change to Starving, and you'll lose one percent of your HP every five seconds."

"And your energy drains too when you're hungry. One percent every ten seconds! If you're starving it drains twice as fast!" Klein stopped talking suddenly to eat.

"Where did you find this out?"

"Mostly talking to other players," Kirito said. "There's a fairly decent communal atmosphere here. Players are mostly friendly and helpful. They want to survive just like the rest of us."

"Then… what about these other two: will and spirit?" Lisbeth asked.

"No idea," Kirito said. "No one's even seen them go down yet."

"Not true," Asuna said. "You're not paying enough attention. We were told that both will and spirit have a drop in their maximum amount when energy is low, or when you're hungry or starving. No one has seen either drop in actual amount though, and the effects aren't clear."

"If I had to take a guess, I'd say they would give you combat penalties of some kind. Maybe they reduce your movement speed." Agil looked at the pile of armor and weapons. "It looks like you made a lot of progress though. It didn't seem like we had enough iron to make all of these."

"Yes!" Lisbeth said in the middle of a bite. She stopped to finish her food and swallow. "My blacksmithing is all the way up at 130 now! And it's not all iron. I used the copper and tin to make some bronze gear. It should be about as good as the iron gear in terms of stats, but it will have lower durability."

Klein rubbed his hands together as he looked at the cache. "So what have you got for me, huh?"

Lisbeth took another bite, and slapped Klein's hand away as he reached for the gear. "Please, let me tell you." She dropped the cache back into her personal inventory, and then started going through the list. "Kirito," she started with him. "For you, I didn't make any armor, because I know you like your speed and to be able to move around. Heavy armor would be a net loss for dual wielding anyways. For you, I made two iron longswords. I didn't know what your strength looked like, so I wasn't sure if you would be able to equip both of them right off the bat."

"I can't dual wield."

"What?" Lisbeth… the whole group was surprised.

"It's a locked ability, I need to increase my stats and level up again before I can dual wield."

"Well, oh well, you have two swords then!" She traded the items over to Kirito. "Klein. I know you like the katana, but my blacksmithing needs to be at 400 before I can craft that, apparently. I did get you a bastard sword, though."

"Hey!" Klein shouted. "Why are you insulting me?"

"Klein," Agil said. "A bastard sword is a sword said to be equipped with one and a half hands. It's light enough to use with one hand for certain attacks, but heavy enough to deal lots of damage with the others."

"Oh. I knew that!" Lisbeth traded him his new sword. He immediately equipped it and got up from his seat to swing it around, testing it out. "No armor for me either?"

Lisbeth shook her head. "Actually. Armor requires a lot more metal, so… the only people who I was able to make it for are myself and Agil. Mail armor for me, because my strength isn't high enough for plate, and half-plate for Agil, because that's all I had left. Also for Agil, a great axe."

Agil smiled, equipping the armor he was giving, and looking at his new axe. Lisbeth continued. "Asuna. You won that spear in the fight, so I figured that would suffice for you. But just in case, I got you a small circle shield of bronze."

Asuna took the item, and equipped it. "Spears are two-handed though."

Lisbeth blinked, stopping in her explanation. "But… someone I talked to at the furnace said you could equip a shield and spear… if the shield was light enough in weight."

"Valkyrie," Kirito said. "I learned about that from another player. It's a special stance that allows a player to quip heavy armor, a shield, and a spear. But you have to have very high strength and agility to use it. It's similar to my dual wielding skill, an ability assigned to certain players based on their stats and weapons of choice."

"Oh?" Asuna and Lisbeth were both interested.

"You can train in that stance I think, but only from another player who has it. You should try to go for that. Keep using your spear."

"Silica."

"Hai?"

"For you, I made an iron dagger, as you might expect. Yuuki, I made you an iron saber. It was the last weapon I made, and it took my blacksmithing to be at skill level 125. And for myself, an iron short-sword to go with my shield."

After that, all gear was distributed. "Alright then," Kirito said. "Tomorrow it's back to the front lines… but we'll need some more supplies first. We should trade some of the meat and materials we aren't using for things like tents and sleeping bags, survival gear. I plan on staying in the wilderness for a long time."

"Now that we're geared, I'm with you!" Klein said.

"One hundred percent." Asuna nodded in agreement.


	3. Chapter 3: Forests and Nothing

The group had slept in tents, unable to find an inn to stay in for the night. Kirito was the first up, and he spent the early morning hours enjoying the calm serenity of the place. There seemed to be a sense of order and society, and it allowed the players here to feel safe, even though many certainly were not.

Asuna was up shortly after him, and joined him, sitting on a stack of stones to watch the sun rise. "We're going to have to get a pretty good bearing of direction," Kirito said.

"Why's that?"

"It's not like Aincrad, where there's floors and the space on each is large, but limited. The world as far as we can tell is endless. If we don't know north, east, south and west, and wander too far into the wilderness, we'll get lost easily."

Asuna nodded. "I've noticed how huge the zones are too. We never reached the forest in the distance even after traveling for a week on foot. The forest looks to be even larger."

"Hai." The conversation ended, and the rest of the players awoke to the sound of a bell ringing in the distance.

"They wasted precious metals on a bell?" Asuna asked.

"Looks like it. I bet it's important though."

The rest of the group joined the two of them. "You two really can't be left alone, can you?" Lisbeth said as she approached.

"We should go see what's happening at least." Asuna hopped up from her seat, and pulled Kirito by the arm.

* * *

><p>In the center of town, they had built a large courtyard. It was massive, big enough to hold many of the players at one time. At one edge of the court was a partially constructed building, where aside from the framework, the only thing finished was a bell tower.<p>

A group of players were standing on top of a makeshift stage that was set up. They addressed the crowd. "Okay, everybody!" one of them shouted to get their attention. The crowd slowly hushed, and listened. "The Town of New Beginnings is coming along great, but now that we know a little more about the world, we've decided to change things up a little."

A second person spoke after him. "Our focus up to now has been to have explorers go out and find resources. And then to have people stay here and build and cook so that we can survive. Now that we've found a quarry for stone, and a mine for copper and tin which we can forge into bronze for armor and weapons and tools, we're re-organizing our work force."

"From now on, this is how our society will be divided. This is how we will split up our work. Players are asked to choose between one of four roles. We don't want to limit anyone too much, and so of course, feel free to switch roles, or to multi-role if you wish. These roles are simply to help organize our efforts further, and to work as a community for the whole." This one was a woman, looking to be a little older than most players. "For now, I'm taking over as the leader of our society. In the real world, I was a community organizer, an activist, and a school counselor. My mission in this world is to apply what I know from the real one, and to use those skills to help everyone survive and work together. My name is Felisha. That is my real name, as you'll see my username is Natari. I'm from the US, but I've worked overseas in Japan before, and can speak Japanese."

The first person spoke again. "My name is Kyubi. In the real world I am an engineer, and I work for Tokyo as a city planner."

The second person then spoke. "I am Jerome, and I am native to Nigeria, currently living in Kyoto, Japan. I am a mathematician and a scientist who works in association with space programs around the world."

Then another member of the leadership rose. "I am Tobashi, and unlike my friends, I do not wish to give out my real name. I don't have a fascinating resume like my friends here, but I was vice president of the student government association at my university, and I currently live in Japan."

Finally, the last member, a young woman stood up. "Karishi. I am currently enrolled in university, living in London, native to Japan. My credentials are this: that I am an SAO survivor."

Felisha was wearing a dress that went down to her ankles, and a yellow shirt that looked like it had once been bright and flowery, but now was dirty and worn. She had her character menu open, and was reading off of something she had written as a note to herself. "Right, then. Now you know who we are. Let's talk about what we need to do in this world. We've discussed this and decided the simplest way to do this is to break down into four basic roles: builders, skillers, gatherers, and combatants. Jerome and I will head off the skillers. Our goal is to focus on improve our in-game skills, and figuring out what we're good at. We'll be using communal materials to turn into usable resources: food, water, tools, weapons. The other roles will then use the resources we make to fulfil their duties in our new society."

"Like you might expect," Kyubi said. "I'll be leading the builders. With my experience in civil engineering, I'll manage the infrastructure of our town, and direct the builders as to what we need to build, and where we need to build it. I will be seeking out assistants who have experience in the field as well, to help plan it all out."

Tobashi was next up. "I'll be leading the gatherers. Our job will be to focus on bringing back raw materials like minerals, stone and wood from the wilderness, which the skillers can turn into usable resources. We will consist of miners, loggers… and the likes. Those who come with me should also learn how to fight, as many resources we'll be harvesting will be from areas where there are monsters."

"That just leaves me," Karishi said. "Combatants will have two or three duties. First and foremost is security. The ones I feel I can trust most will be in charge of keeping players from hurting one another, and if necessary, dispensing justice. Next, is to aid gathers in the wilderness, and to defend them should they fall under attack. Finally, explorers and levelers will be the equivalent of our army. Only the strongest, fastest, and most experienced should join the explorers. If you are an SAO survivor, this is where we'll want to put you, should you choose to be a combatant."

"Combatants," Kirito said. He spoke softly, only to his own group. "That sounds like us. But I don't like the idea of answering to anyone else."

"You always did have a problem with taking orders," Agil said.

"They haven't been too imposing yet," Tex spoke up. She seemed happy with her work thus far. "Mainly they just told us to go find resources and map out the land, which is what we said we were going to do anyways."

"Alright," Felisha said. "Our last order of business. Once we start to get settled in, we'll hold popular elections, and then elected leaders will further organize our society. With that, I think our meeting is adjourned. Please find your role leader for further instructions, should you wish to continue in helping our community grow."

With that, the crowd split up. "Builders, with me!" Kyubi shouted as he headed off towards an emptier part of the now small town to start dispensing work orders. Similarly, gathers followed Tobashi out of town where he began having players split up into different fields of work. Skillers all spread out, back to what they were doing. They were already in their roles.

"I guess, we go with combatants for now," Kirito said.

The group nodded and followed him, and he followed Karishi into a different part of the town. They stopped on the edge, just outside of where a large plot had been leveled in preparation for construction. "This," she said. "Is the grounds upon which we will construct our barracks. It will serve as a living quarters and command post for all our operations, mainly for those who have no place to sleep and no direction to go next. Before we get started, I want everyone who was a survivor of SAO to split up from the crowd, and come stand on the plot. If you are in a group with a survivor, remain partied up, but just stay where you are for now."

Tex nodded to Kirito and the others. "I'll meet back up with you before we leave." Klein and Yuuki gave her a wave as they all went to stand on the plot. Leafa also stayed behind.

"Now," Felisha said. "Any of our survivors who fought and leveled, split up and move to my left. Everyone else, to the right." The group split up further. Lisbeth now stayed back. "Finally. If you were ever a member of the assault team, or fought on the front lines at all, split up more and move farther to the left."

Now Silica remained while the rest of their group moved left. Now there was only thirty or so players grouped in the category of front line fighters. Felisha looked at all of their names, to see who she recognized. When she saw Kirito and Asuna, she blinked, and looked at them like a child looks up to a super hero.

"Kirito…" she said. "Asuna. Is this for real?" Now a lot of survivors turned their attention toward the pair. Felisha bowed before them. "Origato. I… we all owe you for your victory."

The two of them were perhaps a little embarrassed by this recognition. The fame was not something they were used to, as up to now, they hadn't kept contact with many of the old SAO players, other than the ones they knew personally. "It was nothing, really."

"Don't say that!" Felisha said. She turned to the larger crowd of new players. "For those of you who don't know, Kirito was the hero of SAO. He was the one who ended the game and set us free! And Asuna is his star-crossed lover—"

"No no," Asuna broke into the speech. "We really. We're just—"

"We're just survivors like any other!" Kirito said. "That's all we want, but we'll do whatever we can to help you survive now. Don't think of us as heroes. Everything we did… we really were just trying to survive."

"Very well," Felisha said. "I didn't mean to embarrass you so. Me, personally, I fought on the assault team once or twice at lower levels, but I wasn't the best at leveling. So please, bear in mind the experience in a death game players like these two crowds have. If they give you advice, listen to them for your own good."

"No pressure, huh?" Klein said to Kirito.

"Moving on!" Felisha said. "What I would like to do is to put the SAO survivors out on the field. They have the most experience, and they will be the best to lead the leveling parties. Some of you have already grouped up with them, and that's fine." She turned again to the survivors. "If each of you would not mind, I would like it if you could all take a handful of the new players under your wings. Teach them how to fight and survive in a world like this one." She looked to Kirito directly. "And I know some of you may prefer not to run in groups… especially with strangers, but it would mean a lot to a lot of new people."

Kirito and the others all looked to the new players. She was right. Many of them had no experience where the stakes were real. They looked up to them, for the most part.

"Our party plans to be at the front lines again," Kirito said. Felisha stopped, and looked at him, and let him continue. "I can take a few of you, if you wish. We have already added one to our veteran party. But understand that with us… we won't be taking the easy fights. We'll be pushing ourselves constantly, going out and being the first into new zones… new dungeons. We do this to make the world safer for everyone else, and to fight the Laughing Coffin whenever they appear. Don't forget. Our enemies are also veterans, and I've seen them in combat before. They are merciless, and insane. If you come with us, and we run into Laughing Coffin, we're not taking any prisoners this time."

"No!" Sinon said, stepping forth from the main crowd. "I've dealt with them before, myself. We have to shoot to kill."

"Hai," Kirito continued. "If you're unwilling to fight with that in mind, you can't come with us. And don't think it's easy just because you know they're bad, and probably hate them for trapping us here. It's never easy, and you'll have to live with being a murderer for the rest of your lives."

Another player stepped forward from the base crowd. He was new to the group, but already he was equipped with heavy, plate armor, a shield and longsword, all of bronze. "Kirito," he said. "I will join you."

Kirito read his player tag. "Ironclad," he said. "Have you fought in this game yet?"

He laughed at first. "Yes. I have heard that your group has already accomplished something here. You cleared the mine. Thanks to you, I have my gear. Last night, I took a party out to a small wooded area within the plains. There, we fought a mini-boss of our own. My group has since disbanded, many decided combat was not suitable for them."

"We'll have you, then," Kirito said. "Anyone else?"

"I'm still with you, Kirito," Tex said. "The idea of killing other players, even Laughing Coffin… it scares me. But I'll buck up and do what I have to. Also, who else is gonna teach ya'll how to mount up horses?"

"I would join you," Felisha said. "But I've already agreed to lead the combatants. I couldn't pretend to command you and your party. But if you'll do it for all of us, we could use our fastest and strongest to head east, where the forest is closest to the town."

"We were already going that way," Klein said. "Shouldn't be any trouble."

"Thank you!" Felisha said. "Good luck." And with that, Kirito's group all moved out of the crowd, and headed on their way.

* * *

><p>Hooves beat against the ground. Wild horses raced across the plains, all in crowds. "Alright, Tex. Following your lead." Kirito had stored his gear to lighten his load, and patiently waited for Tex to instruct them.<p>

"Right," she said. "Anyone ever wrangled horses or cattle in the real world?" Not a soul replied. "Okay then, well it's rough and wild. But you're gonna wanna put away your armor, cuz you'll also want to be flexible and move around a lot." She opened her player inventory, and threw ropes out to everyone. "This part's the hardest. You got to get up real nice n close while they're still. Then you gotta rope em up."

"Like… a lasso?" Klein asked, trying to make one.

"Yep. Get it around their necks. You won't hurt 'em and for the most part you won't even be able to pull them from their course. It'll make 'em more likely to follow your lead though. The idea is to get close enough to hop up on their backs. Then the game takes over, and it's actually pretty easy. Stay on 'em for a good thirty seconds, and then they'll be all yours and move however you tell 'em."

"Sounds easy enough," Silica said. She already had a lasso made, and spotted a horse that'd stopped to eat near-by. She sneaked up to it, and quickly threw the loop around its neck. It only took a half a second for the horse to dart off. Silica couldn't keep a hold of the rope and it ran off.

Tex had a good laugh at that. "Don't try to hold it still, you can't. It's a horse. Give it a good tug and that'll get it to move a certain way. Use it to help pull yourself up."

Agil looked at his rope, and tied it into a loop. He watched the stampede as it slowed down. "They're all stopped."

"Go go go!" Tex yelled, turning and running towards the horses. She had one lasso'd first, and gave it a good tug. The horse reared and thrashed, and then started to trot off. But it gave Tex enough time to reach it.

It was golden in color, with a soft, white mane. When she reached it, she grabbed hold of it, and it thrashed around. Tex managed to climb onto its back, and held onto that rope tight. The rest of the group managed to catch up to the horses, but only Agil and Silica roped them. Even then, they each lost the catch.

Thirty seconds passed quickly, and Tex was trotting around on her new mount. "Alright, now. Don't give up just yet. It's gonna take a while to learn.

Yuuki was prepared this time. She watched as the horses raced around, and when one came close, she threw her rope, and lassoed it. This one was a dark brown, with white fetlocks and black mane. She tugged at the lasso and the horse stopped its running to thrash about. Yuuki charged at it, and pulled herself up. She was the second to tame one of the animals.

"No fair!" Klein said. "How'd you do that?"

Before Klein could continue complaining, Silica and Kirito had already mounted up, and were leading their new pets around him in circles. Tex was still at it, lassoing horses and taming them. Before long, one way or another, all in their party had a horse to ride on.

"Alright now pay attention to something." Tex went around in circles around the group. "Your endurance bar right now is actually your horse's. They can run faster and farther than we can, and they'll get back up faster too. The health bar is also the animal's now. Keep an eye out on that. Your horse will collapse on ya if you work it too hard."

"Duly noted. Now… to the east!" Kirito yelled, drawing his sword and extending it forward, as if leading a cavalry charge. His horse charged with his instruction, and the group followed.

* * *

><p>The party took rest at the edge of the plains, just before the forest. They had three camp fires set up, and each player had their own supplies: tents, sleeping bags, and rations. Skewered meats rested over a couple of the fires, and many of the players were eating. It was nightfall, and moon and stars shined brightly, lighting up the world.<p>

"The night sky is so beautiful here," Leafa said. She leaned back in the grass, holding herself up on her arms and looking up at the sky.

"This is what the real world would look like, if there wasn't so much artificial light."

"In Texas, we go out to watch the night sky all the time. There's lots of open fields and valleys and hills where there aren't any other lights." Tex sighed, looking up. "This doesn't hold a candle to the true beauty of Earth. Makes me miss the star-lit nights I spent with friends and family."

The horses were all resting, laying on the ground near their camp site. The only other light was their fires. "Every Sunday evening me and my three brothers would go out of our town, and into the desert where there wasn't anything. And I mean nothin' for miles. We'd spend the day riding horses and practicing shootin'. When night came, we'd lie under the stars for hours. Matt would always talk about some girl he was dating, and it was a different one just about every week."

"A different girl every week?" Kirito said, looking at her.

Tex smiled and laughed. "Yeah, he was quite the ladies' man."

"Shooting?" Sinon asked. "Americans shoot for fun, right?"

"No," Tex said. "Well yeah, but we hunted, and fished."

"In the desert?" Agil asked.

"Texas isn't all desert. There's rivers and lakes, and trees. We hunt deer, and wild turkey. One time my oldest brother, Dave, he shot a bear. Didn't kill it, but it was a good hit."

Sinon held her hand up, and motioned pulling a trigger. "It's a different world."

"From Japan? Naw… just a different part of it. World's big enough for that."

"Tex," Sinon asked. "Have you ever… shot someone?"

"Shoot no," she said. "Don't be silly, we don't aim our guns at each other. That's crazy."

Sinon nodded, and kept quiet after that.

"Of course, no one ever gave me a reason to shoot 'em. If someone attacked me, I might. Our family believes in using firearms for self-defense if it's absolutely necessary."

"Tex," Kirito said.

"What?"

"Let's not talk about that."

Tex looked at him, then to Sinon, and nodded. "Okay. Ya'll miss your family?"

Everyone nodded, even Asuna. "My mother and I don't always get along. But I still miss her. She's probably worried sick about me right now. Either that or she's trying to enroll me into university." Asuna sighed, and frowned. "When I get out of here, she's never going to let me use full-dive gear again."

Kirito looked at her, and frowned at that. "I hope she doesn't do that." Then he stood up. "Anyways, let's not talk about depressing things anymore. We need two of us to stand watch for the first four hours. Any volunteers?"

"I'll stay up," Sinon said.

"I better stay up with her, then," Klein said. "I'll defend her since she doesn't have any new weapons."

Sinon frowned. "I'm working on it… Lisbeth gave me arrowheads, and I made them into arrows. I just need a better bow now."

"Sinon and Klein, then," Kirito said. "Wake me up in four hours."

"I'll be on second watch too," Asuna said. With that, the group put out the fires, and got to sleep.

* * *

><p>Two days later, the group traversed the forest. Their horses couldn't run through them, as they were too thick, so they moved along at a steady trot. There were lots of critter class wildlife including deer, more wild pigs, and birds of many varieties.<p>

"For an adventure game," Leafa said. "There is a surprising lack of NPC's to fight."

"With over eighty thousand players," Kirito pointed out. "Laughing Coffin may have counted too much on PVP combat. Or maybe they just wanted the world to be incredibly expansive."

"That's a possibility," Agil said. "It makes sense that with so many players, a lot of space would have to be given. Not to mention the expectation of players to create their own towns and trade. I'm sure it will seem a lot smaller in about a month."

"This is good news for everyone else at least," Tex said. "With so few mobs, it'd be easy to make a logging camp on the edge of the forest, and ship supplies back to Beginnings."

"How are our food stocks?" Kirito asked.

Asuna opened her inventory, and browsed through it. There was an entire folder dedicated to raw food materials, and items she had were numbered in double digits. "We'll be good for a couple more days."

Klein yawned and stretched. "If this were an actual game, I would stop playing. It's boring."

"Boring and alive is better than exciting and deadly." Agil moved up ahead of the group, and then off towards the right flank up onto a hill. There he stopped, and looked down the other side. "Still forest for miles."

"Shush," Sinon suddenly said, holding up her right arm. She plucked an arrow from her quiver, and readied it on her bow. The group looked around, not seeing anything.

"Sinon, what's—" Before Silica could finish her sentence, a large, green lizard-like create leapt out of a tree towards her. She screamed and fell back off of her horse. Sinon was ready, and shot the monster with an arrow, knocking it away.

Yuuki jumped from her horse and struck the beast once more with her sword, to make sure it was dead. "That is one big lizard."

The rest of the party dismounted, and went to look at it. "We keep collecting all of these animal hides," Tex said as she knelt down by it, using her player inventory to collect the loot. "I'm gonna try my hand at crafting us some leather armor. Give me all you got."

The players obliged, each opening their trading inventories and passing on all of their hides to Tex. "Don't you have to tan the leather though? It probably would have been better to do it back in the plains, and with more time on our hands," Lisbeth said.

"Yeah, but this is still a game." Tex pulled out a hide, and stared at it. Before she could do anything, she had to discover the skill. To do that, she had to make something with the hide. "I think I may need… a needle and thread."

The group all looked through their inventory to see if they had one. Except for Asuna, who already had the needle and a bolt of thread out for Tex. "Here you go. I planned on doing tailoring eventually, but we would need cloth first, which don't have any of… except for our clothes and I'm not sure anyone would let me practice on those."

Tex took the needle and threaded it. Then she stabbed the hide, and in that instant, her leatherworking skill was unlocked. "Got it!" She went through her skill tree, and started crafting away. The group all sat down somewhere, and let the horses rest some while they let Tex craft.

Asuna distributed some small portions of food to everyone, and they ate. It was still almost exclusively pork-based food. "Sure glad no one's a vegetarian," she said. "Otherwise you might starve."

"I am a vegetarian," said Ironclad. "But I know this food is not real. The animals killed for it were just data. Not to mention that I don't mind eating meat if it is necessary to survive. Which in this case, it is." He took a bite of the skewered pork, and grimaced. "Of course, I'm not used to the taste. No offense, Asuna!"

"It's fine," she said.

After a few more moments, Tex tossed everyone some basic armor: leather vests. "That's all the materials I had. All I have now is a few scraps. I might be able to make fingers for gloves out of them or something."

"We should get going then." Kirito said.

"Almost done," Sinon said. The group looked at her. She'd been carving a bow quietly the whole time.

"Sinon, I… I didn't even realize you were busy. How are you so quiet?" Asuna looked at her curiously, and so did Kirito now.

"You heard the giant lizard monster before it attacked," Kirito said. "None of us could. That's highly perceptive."

Sinon opened her player stats, and let the rest see them. She was mostly within normal ranges, except for a few lesser skills. Her spotting skill was ninety-four, and her listening was seventy-two. Her hiding and sneaking were both over fifty.

"Sinon!" Agil said, shocked. "When did you level those skills up?"

She shrugged. "Whenever we're not doing anything, I try to use them against you guys, and against critters we see just to grind the skills out." She holds up a nicely crafted piece of a wooden bow. "Now all I need is a string. I'm not sure how to make a good bow string though."

"I did a little bit of wood carving back home," Tex said. "I read somewhere that they used to soak the wooden piece of the bow in animal guts, and it made them more flexible."

Sinon looked at the bow, and then grabbed some of the materials from the lizard that weren't able to be cooked. She performed a simple "use" function and applied them to the bow, and it instantly upgraded. "Nice. Thank you."

"No problem! Bowstring is made out of flax traditionally. I think it's a plant of some kind. Maybe you can use a different plant though."

"Don't be silly. You can use the thread Tex used to make the leather vests," Asuna said. Tex handed Sinon the bolt, and she used her skill to turn it into a bow string, and then connected it to the bow, making the finished product.

"Now, to test it." She up her new and improved bow, and pulled another arrow firing it off at a bird a few yards away. It was spot on, slicing right through the critter. She smiled and put the weapon away, then went to fetch the arrow and the animal.

"Alright, let's mount up and get on moving. We'll travel another day out and then head back to civilization to report our findings." Kirito was already moving on ahead.

"What findings?" Silica asked.

"Yeah, Kirito. We haven't found anything but trees." Klein rode on ahead of him, and turned to talk.

"We found that this part of the forest was safe, didn't we?"

"Hai! That should be good enough," Asuna said. "But I do recall someone wanted to just keeping leveling and moving out into the world."

"I know I know. But well… you guys are right. This world is hug, and it's going to take a long time to get anywhere," Kirito said. "Besides, if we just keep on going, we'll eventually get a point where we can't afford to stop to sleep or eat, and that'll just be suicide."

"One thing's for sure," Ironclad spoke up again. "They're pretty confident. Laughing Coffin… they planned on this lasting for a very long time, which means they must feel invincible in the real world. Like nobody can stop them."

"No one stopped the last death game," Lisbeth said. "We had to beat it."

"True, but you can probably expect that there's responders who are a little better equipped in handling this situation this time around." Kirito smiled, and motioned his horse to pick up the pace. "Still, it will probably take a long time, and this game's just begun. So until they come to rescue us, we're on our own. We have to survive in this world!"

With that, the group all rode off through the forest at half the full speed their horses could run, ready for adventure.

* * *

><p>"Gentlemen." A man on a large screen spoke to a room full of people. Everyone wore suits. Among them was Kikuoka Seijiro, the man who was a part of the task force in the SAO incident, who had kept in touch with Kirito. "In light of the recent events, where players appear to be trapped in yet another virtual reality death game, we here at the United Nations have approved the activation of the International Virtual Reality Task Force, the IVRTF. Your mission is to find out the cause of this, to save the players trapped in the game, and to bring the terrorists responsible for this to justice. You have the support of nations and experts from around the world at your disposal. We will be monitoring your progress, and you will keep us up-to-date with new information. Other than that, this crisis is now in your hands. Good luck."<p> 


	4. Chapter 4: Our House

"They're all gonna die," a man said. He tossed his pen on the large oak desk. "We don't know anything. We don't know who did it. We don't know how they did it. We couldn't hazard a guess as to why, and we haven't a clue where to start in terms of saving them."

"We've considered trying to alter the programming of the AmuSphere directly, performing a direct hack. But we're worried that we may break the coding and accidentally kill the players."

"An investigation was launched by our research team in Kyoto to try and figure out how it's possible, even with all of the modern safeguards. But so far… nothing."

"The CIA sent us a report this morning on every known terrorist network and their involvement and progression into cyber-attacks since the Cold War. We can't share much of the content of the documents, but so far, we can't determine if any modern groups have any real motivation behind this attack."

"Assuming it is an attack. The last time this happened, it was just one person who was, quite simply, insane."

"Well, what do we know?" The man who spoke was at the end of the large desk. Before him was a nameplate that read "Director of Operations: Kojji Makatawa."

Kikuoka stood up, and read from a paper he had in his hands. "We know that as of DGRD plus two, a total of 86,491 players of ages ranging from eight to sixty-one were trapped in the unknown virtual world. As of last night, the death toll reached 2,134."

"DGRD?" Another agent asked.

"Death Game Release Date," Kikuoka stated. "We also know that whoever did this took advantage of the fact that players would still be logging in for at least a few hours after they began, unwary of the dangers. Of the over two thousand who died, nearly 800 died within the first hour of gameplay. After researching the causes of death, we determined about 300 of those were accidentally performed in the real world. Friends and or family members removed the AmuSphere from players. The number of deaths verified to be in-game in the first hour measured exactly 500."

"500?" There was a lot of chatter among the suited men and women at the table. "Why 500?"

"It sounds like it could be important, like whoever did this intended for that many people to die. What's the significance of that number?"

"As far as we can tell," Seijiro said. "Nothing. It appears to have been chosen at random, or at least almost at random."

"Are they sending a message?" another person asked. "Are they letting us know that that they're killers? Or perhaps we should consider 500 to be significant to them in some manner."

"It's also possible that choosing such a nice, even number like that was just coincidence. Maybe they weren't thinking of sending us a message."

"Alright," the director said. "Does anyone have any ideas on how the AmuSphere could be killing people? Any idea of who might know?"

"During the months following the SAO incident, it was discovered that one Sugou Nobuyuki lead a research team, using 300 trapped players as lab rats for experiments with human consciousness. That might be a good place to start."

"I agree," Seijiro said. "In fact, I've already asked some friends back home to look into it. I haven't heard back from them yet." As if on cue, his cell phone rang, and he took it out. "It's them."

"Put them on speaker." The director pointed to the center of the table with a pen. There sat a speaker with audio plug-ins.

"You're on speaker phone with the board. What have you got for us?"

The voice on the phone spoke through the speaker. "Right, we went looking for the lab workers that worked under Nobuyuki. At least two of them are missing from their cells as of two months ago, and another three acquitted at trial are unaccounted for, one of whom has been labeled as a missing person for four months."

The group of agents all acted in surprise at this. "Why wasn't your team kept up-to-date on their whereabouts?" one of them asked.

"There's more," the voice said over the speaker. "As of last night at eleven sixteen pm, Sugou Nobuyuki is dead. They found him hanging in his cell, but they suspect foul play. That's all I have for now."

"Origato." Seijiro hung his phone up and put it back away.

"It looks like we need to question the remaining members of Nobuyuki's team," the director said. "Seijiro, that's your area. Everyone else, keep trying to find out more information however you can. Don't perform any tests on the players or the AmuSphere's in-use without my say-so."

"Hai." The meeting adjourned, and everyone left the room.

* * *

><p>Kirito and the gang emerged from the forest a full week later. Once they rode back into the plains they slowed down to a trot. "It's good to be back," Tex said. "That forest was getting dull."<p>

"Nothing but wild animals and trees. Lots and lots of trees," Klein said.

"At least we got some xp, though," Leafa said.

"Hai," Kirito said. "Tex is level ten now. And I'm up to sixteen."

"What's that?" Silica said, point into the distance. There were buildings there, and from the looks of it, people. They all continued their ride, approaching the small town.

When they arrived there were a little less than a hundred people in the town, and only a handful of buildings around a small, central courtyard of dirt. After dismounting, Kirito and the others each tapped their horse and opened a menu. After a few more buttons, the horses vanished.

"This is definitely new," Lisbeth said. "Think they have a forge?"

"Of course we have a forge, newcomer!" A player had walked up to them. He was of average height, blonde, and wore bronze armor. Behind his back was a bronze spear. "This is Eastown. We only started building it a few days ago. It serves a dual purpose: as a mining town for the mine back westways, and soon it'll be a logging base for the forest to the east."

"We were just over there," Asuna said. "And you'll be happy to know that there are no major threats for a good chunk of it. Just your typical wildlife. It should double as fertile hunting grounds too."

"Oh, you must be from the scouting union!" the player said. "My name is Hachi. Or at least that's what my gamer tag says. This town was built over the past few days."

The group was somewhat amazed, looking around. "You're expanding pretty fast then, to already have small towns all the way out here," Kirito said. "And yeah, I guess we're the scouting union."

Hachi looked at Kirito's gamer tag, and blinked at him. "Hey wait a second. You're the group that cleared the mine!"

"Yep, sure did," Tex said. "You're welcome. Now, is there any place to stay for the night around here? Or are we gonna hafta keep roughin' it?"

Hachi pointed towards a building a few yards away. "That's an inn. If you've got something to contribute to the town's stockpile, you can stay there."

Asuna opened her inventory, and scanned through all of her food materials. "I think we can manage. We had nothing much else to do besides hunt out there since we didn't happen upon anything big like a dungeon."

"Food is always nice. What's really nice is a cook!"

Asuna smiled brightly, and raised her hand. "I can cook! I can cook!"

The group all looked at her strangely. "Calm down, Asuna," Silica said.

"No, I'm excited, I barely needed to cook at all for just us. Ever had deer meat? Or how'bout lizard steak?"

Hachi laughed at that, and raised his hand behind his head. "Actually, I think as long as it's not pork, the whole town will love you. You could probably open a restaurant with that stuff."

Kirito looked around, and then back to Hachi. "Does that mean you've really not been able to find anything except for pigs and hogs?"

Hachi shook his head. He seemed down at the thought. "There's rumors that they found sheep to the north-west, and cattle to the south. Someone even said there were chickens somewhere. But around here, nothing. It's expected to take a long time before there's any real livestock farms to mass produce food."

"Well then, I guess we'll take the deer, turkey, lizard and bobcat meat, and prepare a grand feast for the whole town!"

"Really?" Hachi said. Now he was excited. "Oh that'd be wonderful. Unfortunately we can't offer much besides a place to rest in return. We're just getting started out here."

"Sure," Asuna said. "I've been wanting to cook it, and it's not like we'll eat it before its durability vanishes."

Before the conversation continued, the bell tower above what looked to be a town hall rang. Hachi turned towards it, and started heading to the building. "Come on," he said. "They use the town bells to call important meetings. We weren't expecting one today so this might be extra important."

The group shrugged and followed Hachi into the town hall. Once inside they leaned against the back wall. The seats filled quickly, and many townspeople had to do the same, or even sit on the floor. Two people went up to the podium, and then one waved a third person up.

"Uhh," the first person spoke. He was no public speaker. "Well, he found something, so I'll let him tell you."

The third person nodded and went up to the podium to speak. "I was looking around north of here towards a group of trees to cut down, and I saw it. In the forest to the north… north-northeast, there was what appeared to be a house on a hill. I went towards it and there were high level monsters walking around outside. They had on iron armor, but didn't appear to have anyone inside of the suites. I think… I think it may be the first dungeon we've found."

"How high level?" Kirito asked from the back of the room.

"I saw a lot of thirteens and fourteens, and a couple fifteens."

Another townsperson stood up. "We should form a raid party, and clear it out for loot!" Many others cheered at that idea. "I'll lead the party. We'll need about ten people, and gear for all of them."

Kirito stepped in further at that, and spoke up. "No, no," he said. "That's not nearly enough." The whole group turned around to look at him. "You should let some more experienced players clear it out. I can lead an assault team consisting of my group, and another fifteen to twenty of you."

"Don't you think that's a little overkill?" the man asked.

"That's how you play a death game like this. You go in with large groups, and play it slow and steady… and safe."

"Hey, how do we know you don't just want the best loot for yourself?" another player asked. Many seemed to agree with him with nods of their heads and chatter among the crowd.

"Asuna…" Kirito looked back to her.

Asuna blinked, and pointed to herself. "Me?" She didn't know what she should say at first, but then spoke up. "Oh, right. Umm, hi. My name is Asuna, and I'm a cook. We've been out in the forest to the east checking it for monsters. We didn't find any that were too tough, by the way, so it should be safe for logging and… Oh, yeah. We found lots of deer and stuff, and collected a lot of meat. So as a token of our gratitude for letting us take the lead on the dungeon, and for letting us rest in the inn, I'll be hosting a great feast!"

The whole room suddenly burst into a great cheer. They were more excited at the idea of good food than by the idea of looting the dungeon. With nothing but charred pork to eat since day one, they were very thankful to have Asuna cook for them. As the night fell, Kirito's group all helped Asuna in her cooking, making huge dishes of stews and steaks and every kind of platter for the town.

As they prepared and ate, Lisbeth and Agil set out to go to the mines with other players in town, and they mined a great deal of copper and tin from which they made bronze armor and weapons for the people of the town who were to join the raid party, and for the rest of their own group who were yet to be fully geared up.

At dinner, a player sat down at Kirito's table, with the rest of his group. The man was large, and muscular. "Greetings, strangers," he said. "I am Sampson. I'll be joining the raid party tomorrow, and I thought I'd like to greet the heroes of Sword Art Online."

The group looked at him like he had two heads. "Hi," Klein said. "Thanks, but… it was mostly Kirito here."

Kirito shook his head, and waved his hands, denying his deeds. "No no, it was everyone. And the raid party that went was forty-nine players strong. Don't act like it was just me."

"However it turned out," Sampson said. "I know that most of you here are skilled veterans in the death game scenario. Whether or not you were the ones who fought in that final battle or not doesn't change your status as heroes, not to me anyways."

Lisbeth had her eyes all over the brutish looking player. He wore only a tunic and pants, and so the muscles on his arms and shoulders were exposed. Not to mention that even through his clothes, his muscular form was readily apparent. "I'll take a compliment like that from you any day," she said.

"A good friend once told me that a hero is judged not by their deeds, but by the company they choose to take pleasure in. A kind young woman who cooks food for a whole town sick of pork, a blacksmith who uses her skills to provide weapons and armors to rising warriors, and a leader who selflessly supports complete strangers. You are all heroes indeed." He had a drink in his hand, and once he put it up to his lips, it didn't come back down until the wooden cup was empty.

"That's very nice of you," Asuna said. "Origato."

"Yeah, so nice." Lisbeth pinched Sampson's arm, but he didn't even seem to notice.

"I hate to be ungrateful," he said. "But not a single weapon I looked at today has made proper use of my strength."

"I can see why," Agil muttered under his breath.

"Blacksmith, my lady, what may I call you?"

"Oh, and polite too. My name is Lisbeth."

"Lisbeth, I would be most grateful if you were to craft me a great axe that required all of my strength to wield. I cannot repay you with any material possessions, as I have none. But the moment I am able, I would repay you, with interest."

"Is this guy serious?" Kirito asked, nearly whispering to Asuna.

"What?!" Klein seemed to protest his request. "If you're putting all of your strength into holding a weapon, you won't be able to wear heavy armor!"

"I don't wear metal armor," Sampson explained. "I rely on my strength, my vitality, and my courage to carry me through a battle. You've heard the saying that the weapon makes not the warrior. But I say, neither does the rest of his gear."

"Oh, and I wouldn't doubt that a guy like you doesn't need protection," Lisbeth said.

Silica rolled her eyes and got up from the table. "I think that's enough table talk for tonight. I'm going to get some sleep."

"And oh, I would be happy to make you an axe. About how big an axe do you think you can lift?"

"Yep, I'm done," Agil said. He got up and left.

"Me too." Klein went shortly after.

"I bid you goodnight, heroes. I hope most to see how you fare in the field of battle."

Asuna whispered to Kirito. "I'm sorry, I'm a little behind… mentally. He's being serious right now?"

"I think Asuna and I are going to go to sleep." The two of them left the table. Sinon looked around, and to Leafa before shrugging and getting up as well. Leafa sighed and left.

"Where is everyone going?" Lisbeth asked. "Yuuki?"

Yuuki looked at Lisbeth, and shrugged. "I don't know." Then she yawned and stretched. "It is getting late though. Goodnight."

"Fine!" Lisbeth got up, and pulled at Sampson's large arm. "Let's go make you a new axe, shall we?"

"Of course!" Sampson got up, and the other end of the table dropped down to the floor with a light thud. He didn't seem to notice, and headed off with Lisbeth to the forge.

* * *

><p>"How much strength is required to wield a weapon is proportional to the type of metal that's put into making it, and how much." Lisbeth and Sampson were in the town's forge, a smaller building lit up by a furnace. There were two anvils in the middle of the room. On one side, there was a stack of bronze bars, and on the other, a series of casts. "So first. I'll need to know exactly what your strength is."<p>

Sampson opened his character panel, and read the number aloud. "One hundred and ten," he said.

Even with his physical size, Lisbeth was surprised by the number. He was the only player she'd yet seen with any core stat over a hundred, aside from hit points. Even Kirito's strength was a measly fifty-eight by comparison, and his agility was sixty-one. Agil and Ironclad, who were previously the strongest in their party, were tied at a strength stat of sixty-seven. "That's… that's strong for your level." Sampson's level read fourteen.

"Don't give me too much credit," Sampson said. "My agility is at thirty-two, and the rest of my stats are all below twenty. My avatar is a real min-maxer."

"I see." Lisbeth started piling bronze bars into a bucket, and then another, and another. A total of twenty bars of bronze, and each of the smelting buckets only held eight. She loaded them into the furnace, and gave them time to melt before pulling them back out. "An axe," she said.

"Yes. I don't much for looks, just make it strong."

Lisbeth looked through the options in her skill pane, but selected an option labeled "Custom Design." She started by making the handle from one of the buckets. It was thick, and heavy. Then she poured the rest of the contents into a cast for a double-head. Being a game world, they cooled to a point where she could hammer them rather quickly.

Sampson sat quietly and watched the process. As Lisbeth hammered out the shape, she gave it a bit of flare. By the time she was finished, one side was much larger than the other, and at the middle of the blade, was serrated. The lower point on the main head was stretched, so it was like a giant hook, and the top was flattened out. The smaller head of the axe was square in shape, and serrated down the length of the blade.

Once finished, she attached the pieces, and wrapped some cloth from the town's resources around the handle, and used whatever glue like substances she could find, primarily tree sap, to make it stick, and hold firm. Now finished, she gave the axe to Sampson, and he caught it with one hand.

He felt the weight of the weapon, and gripped it with two hands. Even compared to him, the axe was very large. "It has no name," he said.

"It's a custom weapon," she said. "You can name it yourself."

"Ah. I see," he said. "Then I shall name it 'Gratitude,' because I am thankful for your time and effort, and it will remind me that I am in your debt. Also because I shall be thankful for how it destroys my enemies in the fields of combat."

Lisbeth laughed a little at him. "You know," she said. "You don't have to owe me anything. I could collect right here."

"My lady, I have nothing to give." Sampson put his hands together, and bowed before her. "Nothing but my respect."

Lisbeth sighed, and shook her head. "No no," she said. "I'm sure we could think of something." To emphasize her point a little more clearly, she tapped her fingers to her lips. But of course, her efforts were lost on the giant.

"Tomorrow!" Sampson suddenly shouted, standing up and raising the axe high over his head. "I will promise you every last piece of the treasure I loot from the dungeon! That is how I will repay you."

Lisbeth raised her hand and buried her face into her palm with a light smack. Eyes closed, she shook her head, and then moved her hand back down. Sampson was already leaving the forge. "Hey, wait!" Lisbeth ran after him. "That's not what I meant."

"I bid you goodnight, my lady," he said. "We will both need plenty of rest before approaching the field of battle tomorrow!"

Lisbeth sighed, and decided to give up on her endeavors for now. "Alright, good night."

* * *

><p>The next day, the group approached the dungeon. They were all armed, and many had proper armor. Kirito was at the head of the party, and when they approached the hill, he dismounted, and turned to the group of players behind him.<p>

"Alright, everyone. This is our first dungeon. A lot of you, I expect, will underestimate it. But you can't! If you underestimate it, you will die. I cannot express this enough: you cannot let your guard down here."

Kirito turned back to the house, which was less of a house and more of a huge mansion. The grounds were patrolled by disembodied suits of armor, and they wielded spears, mostly. A few had swords, maces and axes.

"Our enemies appear to be of the type: animated objects. They are not beasts, so don't expect them to act like them. Animated objects have no sense of fear or mercy. These enemies will act as soldiers, nothing more or less. It may seem like they're strong, and will be hard to kill, but I think that won't be true. Animated objects will fall apart once broken, so one good hit should be able to knock any of these smaller guys down. Now, as we discussed previously. Group A will go in first. They will pull the trash on the outside back to us one or two at a time so we can get a feeling for how to engage them. Once we're inside, expect the space to move around to be tightened up. Now, let's do this. Move in!"

Five of the players, including Tex and Lisbeth, headed forward. They opened a large, black fence gate in front of Kirito, and walked onto the grounds. Tex pulled out the knife she had picked up in the very first day of the game. Lisbeth of course had her shield and short sword. They went up to a pair of animated suits, and started attacking. They surfaced minimal damage, but all only attacked once before heading back towards the main group.

Once they returned, the larger group all swarmed the suits, and overpowered them easily. "Okay," Kirito said. "More this time!"

Next, the pull group collected five of the suits of armor, and brought them back. It was slightly more challenging. Agil, Ironclad, and Lisbeth all focused on three of them, while the party overpowered two, taking hits at the suits until they knocked pieces of the armor away, killing them. Agil managed to knock his target onto its back, and then finished it off by crushing the helmet.

At this point, it was mostly the lower level townspeople who were doing the damage. Kirito had decided that the more experienced players needed only to watch at first, since they could adapt to the combat better.

"I think we've got the hang of it guys," Kirito said. "Group B, help Group A pull. Bring back eight-to-ten this time."

Ironclad, the leader of group B, nodded, and led his group out into the field. Ironclad led his group left, and Lisbeth went right. Together they brought back nine of the animated armors. This time, everyone fought.

The three tanks held the attention of two monsters each, while the players swarmed the remaining three. Klein knocked one of them out in his first hit. Kirito and Yuuki both teamed up on another, and would take turns hitting its backside until it broke. The third was mobbed by a series of players. Then, everyone went to the remaining six.

Silica managed to hit a vital weak point, severing a leather strap on one of them and destroying it. Meanwhile, the animated armors attacked Lisbeth, Agil and Ironclad. Weapons clanged against shields and Agil's battle-axe. As Agil focused heavily on one, pushing it back to be killed by the group, the other got a hit on him, clubbing his die with a mace.

Agil took damage, and a step back. Before he could make his own move, more of the party had mobbed the suit. By the time they turned to move against the remaining four, they were already downed.

Kirito looked up at Sampson, who was still on a horse. "Are you going to fight today?"

Sampson nodded. "I thought the rest could use the experience. But if you insist." He got down from his horse, and charged into battle. He ran right through a suit with his shoulder, knocking it in two, and then swung his large axe across his front, cleaving through two more suits. "Haha! Taste my might, toy soldiers."

The group watched, and many seemed impressed by the display of raw strength. Kirito didn't seem all that impressed. He only thought Sampson was being a show off. "Good, only…"

A helmet from one of the animated armor suits got knocked into a crowd of more of them. Those suits all drew their weapons and charged back at Sampson. Sampson took a step back, bracing himself. "I think I have made a mistake!"

Kirito decided to show off a little himself now, and charged into combat. Asuna and Yuuki both followed right away. "Lisbeth, Ironclad, Agil! Get their aggro and keep them away from the lower levels!" He dodged one of the monster's attacks, spinning around the swing of an axe to strike at an enemy behind that one, easily knocking away its helmet.

Yuuki performed a similar move, but slightly more impressive. She grabbed one of the suits by its hands, and pulled it close. Then, in a stunning feat of acrobatics, she pulled it down, and flipped over it. With her blade, she struck one enemy, and then turned it back on the one she'd leapt over, killing both.

Asuna was the most straight-forward in her assault, thrusting her iron spear through one of the monster's chests, causing it to fall apart.

Ironclad was the first of the tanks to run in, and the other two followed on either side. He took a swing at one enemy, but missed, and stumbled forward. That same monster wielded a sword, and simply thrust it down into Ironclad at the back of his neck, where his armor was weak. The poor soldier's journey ended quickly, and blood spilled all over the ground. His health bar nearly instantly dropped to zero and that was the end of it.

After that, the whole group seemed to lose morale, and many didn't have the guts to continue the charge forward. Some though, like Silica and Leafa, displayed no such fear. They ran into the fray, and started fighting the floating suits.

Lisbeth saw the death, and had to shake herself out of the trance of fear. Two of the monsters were already attacking her, and she moved a shield up to stop one attack, and side-stepped out of the way of another.

Agil took swift vengeance on Ironclad's killer, and made a solid strike right through its body, knocking it apart. Then he got back to his role, grabbing the attention of more monsters.

Sampson seemed incredibly disheartened at Ironclad's death. He didn't know him, but felt a great burden of guilt, feeling that his actions led to this player's death. Many of the knights were still attacking him, though. And they gave him no time for a mental recovery. Two of them made successive attacks on him, hitting him and knocking his health down below fifty percent. He retaliated, cleaving through the two attackers and one other suit of armor, destroying them.

While more of the knights were going down, Kirito noticed more approaching. They seemed to have collected too much attention, especially since half of their raid party was frozen in fear. He looked back to them, and noticed that their spirits had all been lowered. "Fight!" he shouted at them. "If we all die, they'll come for you next, so fight now!"

Their spirits went up a little more, and they each yelled as they charged into the fray. Once there were more of them, the tide of the battle was back in favor of the players. They won that battle, and the yard was now clear.

"Alright," Kirito said after the players had rested a little. "I expect the house to be harder than the yard. So keep your guard up, and don't stop fighting. The boss is going to be in one of those rooms, so don't enter a room until you open the door and look inside. Let's move." Kirito then attempted to open the front, double-doors, but they wouldn't budge.

"Is it locked?" Asuna asked.

"I think Sampson has a key," Lisbeth said.

"I do?" The whole group looked at the giant of a player. He then nodded. "Right, yes!" He approached the door, and swung at it with his axe, busting it open for the players to enter.

When they got inside, they found themselves in a large anteroom, with a huge chandelier above their heads. Straight ahead was a wide staircase, and on the staircase was a long rug, going down the stairs and all the way to the front door. To either side was a set of doors, and down the sides of the stairs were a set of hallways.

"Okay," Kirito said. "Split up into groups, and start exploring. If you find the boss room, send a mass message to the party to meet you there."

With that, everyone moved out. Kirito's group went around the stairs, and down the hall. The walls had picture frames, but no pictures, and the structure seemed to be all built of old, yet expensive woods. After rounding a corner, they found another stair case, this one seeming to go down into a basement. They all followed him down.

Another group of players, went upstairs. With every step, the house creaked. They found themselves suddenly in a library. The leader of that party spoke up. "Books. A whole library. There's bound to be some information here, or a secret passageway. Search the room."

A third group searched through the rooms to the left, and the last searched the ones on the right. One found a dining room, and a fireplace. The other made their way to a kitchen. They began to look through things for items to keep.

Kirito's party found themselves in a cellar, where they found a boiler, and a locked chest sitting before it. Sinon stopped suddenly after she entered the room, and turned to face a far, dark corner, and drew her bow.

"Sinon," Leafa asked. "What is it?"

"I don't know…" She loosed her arrow, and it clanged against a stone wall. "Maybe nothing."

The cellar area was lit by torches, and so Asuna took one, and moved over to that corner. There appeared to be nothing but cobwebs. On the wall, there was an unlit torch, so she lit it to keep light in the area. When she did however, the walls and the floor moved, spinning around and she found herself in a secret room.

"Asuna!" Kirito shouted, running over to the spot. The wall spun again, and Asuna returned while Kirito vanished.

"Guys," Asuna said. "I found a secret room!" She looked around, and the group stared at her. "Where's Kirito?" Without warning, the wall shifted again, and she was back on the other side.

Kirito was there now, and quickly jumped away from the moving wall, and with another spin, Asuna was back. "There," he said.

Back in the library, the players were digging through books. "Whoever lived here had a serious infatuation with nineteenth century literature. This is the third Poe book I've found. Anyone else find anything useful?"

Then, one player pulled out a book, but it wouldn't come out all of the way. The whole shelf then creaked, and opened up—a secret door.

The players all nodded to one another, and went through it.

Back in the cellar, the group had all gone into the secret room. There, there was a single desk with a single book on it. Sampson picked it up, and started to read. "Edgar Allen Poe. I see someone has a taste in classic horror."

As he flipped through the pages, a note of paper slipped out. Lisbeth picked it up, and read it to herself first. "Aww, it's a love letter," she said, eyeing Sampson, who was more enthralled with reading the works of the late great writer. "My dearest Roderick," she began. "Oh, how I have missed you so—"

The line caught Sampson's attention in a bad way. He dropped the book, and looked panicked. "We need to run, now!"

"Are you really that afraid of a little romance?"

"Roderick Usher…"

The group blinked.

"Edgar Allen Poe… Roderick Usher," Sampson stammered a bit. "As in _The Fall of the House of Usher_. The boss isn't in the house. The boss is the house!"

In the kitchen, the players were looting dishware and pots and pans. Suddenly, all of the items in the kitchen began to float eerily. The players noticed and stopped.

In the dining room. The fire pit suddenly started up. The players looked at it funny, and before anyone could react, a chair suddenly flung itself across the room, hitting one of the players and knocking him back. Everyone jumped, and the fire roared and exploded, filling the room with smoke.

In the upstairs secret passageway, a wooden panel from the wall flung out and smacked one player in the face. The rest immediately began to run only to have the secret door shut in their faces.

Kirito and the party didn't quite understand Sampson at first. But then suddenly had a wakeup call at the sound of screams from all over the house, and the sound of fire roaring and furniture flying. They each all ran out of the secret room in pairs of twos through the swinging secret revolving door.

The boiler was active, and racketing, making loud noises and shooting heat out into the room. They ignored it and ran up the stairs. Players were running around screaming. All sorts of objects were chasing them, being flung in every direction.

Silica ducked to dodge a chair, and then started to run towards the front door. "Everyone, outside!" Kirito shouted.

"The doors are locked!" another player shouted back.

Sampson charged for the front door to bust it open again. He succeeded, but only to have a carpet draped across the stairs lash out at him, wrapping around his feet and pulling him in, keeping him from leaving.

Other players ran towards it, but stopped suddenly as they saw the front porch had become a gaping hole, and at the bottom of this pit, there were spikes. As more players rushed the door, the first that reached it was pushed over the edge, and fell down on the spikes, dying instantly.

The sound of his screams was warning enough for the other players to step back. Everything was chaos.

"Everyone, stop!" Asuna shouted. Suddenly, all of the players halted, and looked at her. "Tanks! Stand at the hallways and knock away incoming projectiles. Rangers, back them up with arrows. Melee fighters, attack the carpet, free Sampson."

The sudden leadership was more than enough for players to get behind. Everyone did as they were told. Agil and Lisbeth defended the main group from things being flung from the halls. Sinon, and three others stood behind them, shooting as many as they could. Everyone else started attack the carpet.

It wasn't easy, it flung Sampson around, and then tossed him into a wall before grabbing another player. "Help us!" there were screams from upstairs.

Asuna looked up the stairs towards the cries. "Silica, Leafa, Kirito, Yuuki. Come with me!" The four nodded, and followed Asuna' charge up the stairs.

"Hey! What about me?" Klein asked.

"Stay with the others!"

Klein nodded, but sighed. Asuna led the charge into the library. She looked around, trying to figure out what to do.

"Secret door!" Leafa suddenly shouted, and started ripping books from the bookshelf. The rest followed, but before long, the books started attacking. They flew from the shelves, from the floor, from everywhere. When they hit, they didn't do much damage, but it was enough to keep the group from their mission.

Yuuki and Kirito stepped up, taking swipes at incoming books. "We'll keep you covered. Find the way to get in!" Kirito said.

It was Silica who finally found the special book that unlocked the secret passageway. When the door opened, the players all stormed out, and ran towards the stairs to join the fight.

When they reached the top of the stairs, more animated suits of armor appeared, five in total, coming from other rooms in the house. The carpet however, seemed to have been defeated. Down the stairs, the melee fighters were engaging more suits.

"Stay up here and fend them off, I'm going down to see what else we need to do!" Asuna said. When she charged down the stairs though, they suddenly moved, opening up and dropping her back into the cellar. She screamed, and took some fall damage.

"Asuna!" Kirito shouted before jumping down with her, landing on his feet. The stairs closed after him.

On the main floor, Sampson and Klein made quick work of the incoming mobs. "What do we do now?" Klein asked.

Before anyone answered, the room to the left opened up, and a being of pure fire emerged. "I guess we handle those, next!" Sampson shouted.

"I'm out!" Sinon shouted. Then she pulled out a bronze dagger and turned to help the other fight. "Wait… how do we fight those things?"

Klein didn't hesitate, he took a swing, and dealt damage. Only a fraction of the fire elemental's health was taken off. "It's all we got, just keep swinging!"

Half of the players that attack the monster we singed with flames, taking a small amount of damage as the elemental lashed out. Several hits later though, it was down.

To their dismay, another fire elemental soon took its place. "Where are they coming from?" Sinon asked.

"In the next room, there was a fire pit!" One of the players who was in that room pointed in its direction. "Maybe if we destroy that, they'll stop coming!"

"I really wish we had a third tank," Klein said. "We need someone to keep these elementals busy while we kill that fireplace!"

Just then, Yuuki jumped down, over the stairs railing, and landed in front of Lisbeth. She started to use her melee attacks to strike at the objects being thrown. "Lisbeth, that's you, go!"

Lisbeth nodded, and turned to face the fire elemental, grabbing its attention. "I got it, go now!"

The rest of the crowd charged the room, and all began to attack the fire pit, though they all took damage as flames billowed forth.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Asuna and Kirito were recovering from their fall. Asuna shook her head, and turned to the stairs. "That was unexpected… and totally unfair."

Kirito stared at the boiler. "Asuna."

"Hai."

"Look." He pointed at the boiler. "Listen…" The boiler clanged and racketed, but the more they listened, they realized that the pace of the sounds it made were at regular intervals.

"It's like… it's the beating heart of the mansion."

Kirito smiled. The two of them drew swords and started to attack the boiler.

On the second floor, the group of players had finished off the animated armor, and was getting ready to move back downstairs. The group that had first been attacking the fire place had retreated, everyone's health down, in the red, below twenty percent.

They all followed Yuuki's example, and hopped over the railing rather than using the staircase. "You guys!" Klein yelled. "We got the fireplace down below fifty percent, but we had to run. Go finish it!"

The players nodded, and all charged into the room, attacking the fireplace. They took damage like before, but they destroyed it. The flames snuffed out shortly after. But the fire elemental remained.

In the cellar, Asuna and Kirito beat the boiler mercilessly, but to no avail. "It's not working, Kirito!"

"I know. Can you think of a way to overheat it?"

Asuna shook her head. "We'll need more help! Let's go!" She ran up the stairs to the main floor, and was more than thankful that there wasn't a trap on these steps like before. Kirito stayed behind, and examined the chest near the boiler in her absence. It was locked, but the game system allowed him to pick up the whole thing and store it in inventory.

Once Asuna got up the stairs, she had to dodge flying objects to reach the main group. Then, she saw the fire elemental, nearly defeated. "Wait! Bring that downstairs!"

The players stopped their attack. They didn't understand her, but Lisbeth didn't have to understand. She knew Asuna had a plan, and trusted her, so she made a B line for the stairs going down. Yuuki pushed forward so that Lisbeth could reach the stairs, and she led the monster down to the cellar.

Kirito saw it as it came down. "Lisbeth, bring it here!" he shouted. She did so, backing up slowly towards the hot boiler. Kirito jumped in, and pushed the elemental into the metal contraption while Lisbeth dove out of the way.

It hit the boiler, and died. Following that, the boiler turned red.

"Run run run!" Kirito said.

They bolted back up the stairs and towards the front door. Without warning, the chandelier overhead fell, and nearly crushed a Kirito. Klein, however, pulled him away at the last second. He smiled at him, and nodded his head before jumping up and moving around the fallen chandelier to jump over the pit outside.

The rest of the players followed, and soon, everyone was out of the house, running toward the front gate. They all stopped once safe, and looked back to see the house collapse, caving in on itself after the sound of a huge explosion.

Everyone cheered, and many players exchanged hugs and high-fives. Above the house, an icon appeared. "Dungeon Cleared!"


	5. Chapter 5: Elves

Kirito, Asuna, Silica and Sinon all rode on horseback at a steady pace through the forests. Kirito had on thick leather armor, and Asuna had crafted him a black cape. Asuna wore some light bronze plate armor, including a chest piece, shoulder guards, boots, and a girdle. She also had leather gloves, and a red cape. Silica wore only light leather, a vest, gloves, and pants. Sinon was much the same, with only the basics of armor. She had also obtained new arrows, though these had only bronze heads.

"So," Asuna said. "Elves. So creative…"

Kirito shrugged. "They're a staple race for most MMORPG's, so I'm not surprised."

Sinon stopped, and drew her bow. She didn't even get an arrow readied before she herself was shot off of her horse. She took about thirty percent of her health in damage, and gripped her left arm where the arrow had gone in.

"Sinon!" Kirito shouted. The whole group drew weapons and dismounted, spreading and hiding behind trees. No one could see their enemy.

Asuna pulled Sinon back a bit into some bushes, and pulled the arrow out of her. "It wasn't critical," she said. "So you should be fine."

Sinon tried to reach for her bow, which had fallen to the ground near her, but retracted her arm. "It hurts though… I don't think I can shoot like this. Look out!" She pulled Asuna and herself into a roll, dodging a second arrow.

"Where are they?" Silica asked.

Sinon used her right hand to point towards a spot in the trees. The group looked, and saw the branches moving. Then, being spotted, an elven archer wearing a bright green cloak dropped down, and drew another arrow.

"Humans… are not welcome here," he said.

Kirito looked at him funny. "Wait," he said. "Back in Eastown, they said that the elves reacted neutrally towards players. That they even talked to them."

"Things have changed," the elf said. "Leave, now, or I will end you." Upon examination of the elf's health pane, Kirito and the others saw his level: forty-two. They were no match for this archer, who was twice their level.

"What's changed, exactly?" Kirito asked. "We came here in peace. We didn't want to fight."

"Your kind attacked us, and looted our town! We can show no more hospitality to your kind, human."

"Who attacked you, exactly?" Silica asked. "You know there's a whole lot of us, right? And we're not all on the same side."

"We don't care for your politics."

Kirito put his weapon away, and held up his hands. "We don't mean you any harm. Maybe we can help you out. Just give us some information on the ones who attacked you, and maybe we can get to the bottom of this."

The elf lowered his weapon, and pulled out a scrap of clothing. "If you insist," he said, throwing the scrap to Kirito. "That's the only evidence we have. Happy hunting. But don't come back." The elf turned and started to walk away.

"Wait!" Sinon said, standing up, holding her arm still. "We're sorry we offended you. If we bring the ones who attacked you to justice, would you at least be willing to talk?"

The elf stopped to listen, but didn't turn back. "I'll speak to our leaders. Meet us here an hour before dusk, and we'll talk."

"You're not even giving us a whole day?" Kirito asked. They barely had a lead. "We don't' know anything yet."

"Dusk… here. Good luck." With that, the elf left them.

Kirito looked down at the scrap of clothing, and read it aloud. "Green Bandits… Thieves for Life."

"You think it's a PK guild?" Asuna asked.

"Maybe," Kirito said. "Sinon, are you good to continue? We don't have a lot of time."

Sinon nodded, and mounted back up on her horse. Once up, she drank a health potion, and her hit points were restored. Asuna handed her bow to her, and they all rode on.

* * *

><p>Sampson and Agil were in an empty room back in town. They had a large sack full of grains that they were using as a punching bag. Sampson held it in place, and Agil made successive punches, wailing on the sack.<p>

Lisbeth walked in and sat down to watch. "You boys working up a nice, healthy sweat, I see?"

"I do not sweat unless I'm working out or fighting," Sampson said. "And this is hardly either."

Agil paused at that, and looked past the bag at him. Agil had been working up a sweat. His face was wet, and he breathed heavily.

"Agil, are you going to give Sampson a shot?"

"Sure, I guess." He took the bag from Sampson and held onto it tightly.

"Brace yourself. My strength in this game is even greater than the real world!" Sampson stepped back, and then forward as he hurled his fist into the bag. One punch had Agil lose ground, taking a step back and sliding across the floor.

"Sampson," Agil said. "How is it that you've grown so strong already?"

"In the real world," he said. "I have a black belt in taekwondo. I have great discipline after many years of training. Once I got to the game world, I set my sights on building strength, and then agility, things I thought would be most important in surviving in this world. I practiced my martial arts here, and used heavy rocks to perform workouts. When it came time to fight, I used my bare hands, wrestling wild beasts. It was hard work, and it would have been easier to use weapons. But this is the path I chose."

"The way you knocked those suits of armor around yesterday. I was impressed," Agil said. "I wonder though if your strength will serve as great a benefit when fighting other types of monsters though." Sampson made another punch against the bag, and Agil slid back further, he had to take a step forward to make up the ground.

"We will see," Sampson said. "But as long as I can cut it with my axe, my strength should serve well!" He delivered a third punch. Agil gripped the bag and held on with all his strength, and this allowed Sampson to punch right through it, the grain spilling out on the floor.

"Maybe we should make a sandbag instead," Agil said, looking at the mess.

* * *

><p>Kirito and the others rode fast through the forest. They tried to cover as much ground as possible, looking for the Green Bandits. "There!" Sinon shouted. "I see something!" She was at the top of a hill in a small clearing. Once the others got up to her, she pointed down across the vast forest, where a small pillar of smoke rose up from below the tree line. "There. It might not be them, but it's something."<p>

"Hai. Let's go!" Kirito said, riding forth. The rest of the group followed him down, the four charging the forest towards the campground in the distance.

When they got closer, they dismounted, and stayed in hiding to observe the site. Players wearing green painted armor were sitting around eating and drinking, laughing and having a good time. Silica pointed towards a stockpile of resources they seemed to have collected, stored in boxes and barrels next to a tent.

The group was slowly going through it, deciding what was junk and what was to be kept, and splitting up the loot. Kirito pulled everyone aside to formulate a plan. "Alright, there's a lot of them, and we're only a slightly higher level than they are. So we can't just charge in and take them head on."

"I noticed something else," Asuna said. "Their cursors are all green. They might not be player killers."

"I saw that too," Sinon said. "But we don't know for sure that this game will even reveal player killers the same way as SAO."

"Either way, we need to play it safe. Sinon, you climb up into a tree and give us support. Silica, you run in and be a distraction, grab their attention and be ready to run. Asuna and I will go in while they're not looking and take two of them from behind. We'll not attack them directly, but put blades to their necks and threaten so."

"Kirito," Asuna said. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this. I don't want to kill them if we don't have to."

"Neither do I, but it might come down to us or them."

"Killing people so we can get along with NPC's though? Couldn't we just steal the elves' stuff back?" Silica said.

"No," Sinon said. "We can't afford a half measure. If we steal from them, and they find us, then they'll have the jump on us when they hunt us down. We can't afford a surprise attack. Right now, we have the upper hand."

"Exactly," Kirito said. "We're going to try and negotiate their surrender by holding those two." Kirito pointed at two of the players in the camp. They were doing a lot of the talking. "They're more likely to be leaders."

Asuna nodded, even though she still didn't like the plan. Silica wasn't too certain either. And yet, the group broke out. Silica approached the camp from the opposite side, and simply walked right into the crowd, and sat down on a log with the others. She was nervous, but not as surprised as the other players.

"What," one of them said. "Where did you come from?" The whole crowd jumped after seeing her there, and all gripped their weapons, fearful.

"Oh, you know," Silica said. "I was walking through the forest and I saw a bunch of players. I thought I'd join you."

"Alone?"

"Mhm," Silica nodded.

As planned, Kirito and Asuna snuck up behind, and grabbed the two targeted players from behind. They both held a knife up to those players' throats, and dragged them back. Silica jumped in on the action, taking another random player and doing the same.

"Nobody move!" Kirito shouted.

The hostages seemed frightened, but one of them noticed something after looking around. "Don't be frightened. They're not red players," he said.

The rest of the guild noticed the green cursors over the groups' heads. They all drew their weapons and boldly approached. Sinon fired a warning shot, and hit one of the approaching players in the foot. He cried and fell to the ground.

"I said," Kirito said. "Nobody move." The players all wore the insignia of the Green Bandits, and the name of their guild was printed over it. "We know you were involved in looting a town of NPC's. Surrender yourselves and face justice, or we'll kill you all, one by one."

"Really?" The player in Kirito's arms struggled for a moment. "You're going to kill us for attacking NPC's? That hardly seems justifiable."

"Those NPC's are now hostile towards players, and have high level soldiers patrolling the forests," Kirito said. "You turned them into a danger for everyone!"

"Lower your weapons," the player said. "Let me go, we'll talk about this."

Kirito did just that, shoving the player away towards his guild. The rest of his guild all lowered their weapons. "First of all, there are nineteen of us, and by the looks of it, only four of you. What was your plan, here? Come in, kill us, and then get mobbed by our guild?"

Asuna looked to Kirito, and raised a brow. She rolled her eyes and shoved her hostage back into the guild crowd. Silica did the same. "I told you it was a bad idea," Asuna said.

"Guys," Kirito said. "What are you doing? They could be PK'ers!"

"Careful, boy. That's a serious accusation." The guild leader didn't seem too happy about Kirito and his party attacking them and accusing them of murder. "We're not murderers. We're just a normal guild trying to survive out here like everyone else."

"I can't trust you," Kirito said. "How do I know you're not PK'ers?"

"If we were PK'ers, do you think you'd be alive right now? That's why we call ourselves the Green Bandits. We have no problem stealing and looting if it's justified by our survival, but we don't kill other players! Green, because our player cursors never turn red."

"You did cause us a lot of trouble with the elves though," Asuna said.

"We apologize for that. But it wasn't our intention to turn them into hostiles against all players. We didn't know that would happen."

"No matter," Kirito said. "We still have to make this right. We promised to bring you to justice."

"Well you can't expect us to die over this, can you?"

Kirito shook his head. "No… but—"

"No buts! If you're not prepared to fight us to the death, then I think it's time for you and your friends to leave."

"Kirito," Asuna said. "He's right, we shouldn't be doing this. Let's just go. We'll find some other way to deal with the elves."

"Kirito!" Sinon shouted, hopping out of the tree.

"I know… we're leaving," he said.

"No! Not that," Sinon said. "We've been used. The elves must have followed us here, I saw at least a dozen of them on the clearing we passed earlier, and their headed this way."

"You fools!" The guild leader drew a two-handed sword from his back. "You led them right to us! Quick, everyone, gather up our things and let's head out!" The guild did as instructed, and started packing up.

"Nice going, Kirito," Silica said.

* * *

><p>Tex and Yuuki were out in the fields, slaying hogs that they came across. Tex leveled up, and pumped her fist in excitement. "Fifteen," she said. "I'm almost caught up to the rest of you."<p>

"Great," Yuuki said. She herself was now level nineteen. "Want to head back, then?"

"Sure."

Tex and Yuuki mounted up and rode back to Eastown. There they met Sampson, Agil and Lisbeth on the outskirts of town. Sampson was dumping shovels of dirt into a heavy cloth sack, and Agil was holding it up. Lis mostly watched, but waved to the two as they approached.

"Hi!" she shouted. "How was the hunting trip?"

"Successful," Yuuki said. "Lots of extra food stockpiled, and Tex is all the way up to fifteen."

"Still nowhere near you though." Tex looked at each player's plates, and saw that Lisbeth was level eighteen, and Sampson and Agil were level seventeen. "Hey, do you guys think you could make me a bow? I want to try shooting some time too."

"I'm not exactly a bowyer, but we could probably find you one in town. And I could make some arrowheads for arrows. When Sinon gets back, I'm sure she'll be happy to make you one."

"Speaking of which," Agil said. "Shouldn't they be back by now?"

Lisbeth opened up her friends list, and used the in-game map feature to locate them. "Huh," she said. "They're not moving much, and their pretty far away from where the elven village was."

"Do you think they're in trouble?" Yuuki asked.

"They're probably fine," Agil said.

* * *

><p>As the Green Bandits were packing up, an arrow flew through the air, and hit the guild leader in the back. It sank into his leather armor, and did minimal damage. He grimaced, dropping items he was about to store, and turned around. "They're here! Everyone, hide!"<p>

Kirito and his group followed suit, hiding behind trees and stumps and rocks as the Green Bandits did. More arrows flew, and all dinged off of their hiding places.

"Should we take the offensive?" a guild-member asked his leader.

"No," he said. "Wait here. They'll have to get closer and we can hit them with our melee weapons."

"Yes sir!"

Another wave of arrows came down, but none hit anybody. Next the elves all approached. A few stayed back behind some trees, ready to fire more arrows, but the ones approaching all had swords.

"Come on out!" the leader of the elf party said. "We know you're there and you're no match for us! We'll get you eventually."

As one of the elven knights moved past their cover, a Green Bandit jumped him. He sliced across the elf's backside, dealing about sixty percent of its health in damage, and used his shield to block and incoming volley of arrows.

Just as the arrows flew, Sinon left her cover to fire at one of the archers. She scored a critical hit, killing it instantly. Then the fighting started. More players came out of hiding. While most attacked the elven melee fighters, a few rushed at the archers.

The elves of course were a higher level, and were tougher than other monsters because of their sentience. Most of the hits on the part of the players were out of luck, and the elven fighters proved fierce competition. They didn't make any critical blows since they spent most of their focus parrying incoming attacks, but were able to get a few licks in here and there.

Kirito made a B line for the elven leader, the same archer they'd run into before, who stood at higher ground. He fired a shot at Kirito, and he quickly rolled out of the way. It was similar to dodging the bullets in Gun Gale Online for him, and quite an easy action to perform. Only the bow needed to be reloaded every shot, unlike a gun.

Silica jumped in to fight the already weak elven fighter, and got two quick hits on him before he was able to parry her blows. Asuna joined the charge on the archers.

Sinon fired a shot at the leader, but he easily moved out of the way, and fired a return shot. Sinon saw it coming this time, and dodged, hiding behind a tree.

The leader of the Green Bandits used his broadsword to strike hard and heavy at one of the fighters. They were unable to parry the massive blow, and got knocked to the ground, down below twenty percent of their health.

Sinon was about to make another shot at the leader, but then stopped as she heard someone speaking. It was words unfamiliar to her, and since other languages were already being translated, it must be something different. Then she remembered the spells from Alfheim online, and turned to fire at the source of the sound. Before she let loose her arrow, her bow was knocked out of her hands.

Simultaneously, every players were all disarmed, as were all elves. They all stopped fighting, confused, and looked towards the source of the magic. An elf riding on a white horse rode into the fray. "That is enough," she said.

"Level… level sixty?" Kirito said, looking at her.

"I am Lady Sayadrin," she said. "And I am the queen of the elves."

"My lady!" The leader of the elven raiding party spoke. "These people robbed us. We had to strike back, they gave us no choice!"

"You are relieved of your duties, lord Malfas. If we just retaliate with violence every time we are wronged, we will start a war. That is not what we want. I apologize for my subordinate's attack. Though I do not believe it entirely unfounded. My people will show you no more harm, but we ask that you return what you have stolen from us, and for those aligned with the thieves to perform for us a task to re-earn our favor."

After that, the elf stopped talking, waiting for a response. The players all picked up their weapons, and looked around at one another.

"She's just an NPC," the guild leader said. "We don't have to listen to her."

Kirito walked up to him, and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he said. "We got off on the wrong foot, and I was over-zealous. Let's start over. I'm Kirito—"

"I know who you are, Kirito," the man said. Kirito seemed surprised. He took off his helmet, and it was indeed a familiar face. "Sorry, I didn't think you'd recognize me since I changed my in-game name."

Kirito was even more surprised by the man's identity. "Eugene? From the Salamander army?"

He nodded. "Indeed. How else do you think I would have been able to call your bluff? I've seen you bluffing before."

"Well," Kirito said, somewhat embarrassed. "I guess it's nice to meet again." He looked at Eugene's new game tag before continuing. "Sal. That should have been more obvious than it was."

"As I was saying. As realistic as these events are, the elves are just NPC's. While this seems to have resolved the situation for other players, it'll ultimately be up to us to decide whether or not we'll do as we were asked, and return the stolen items."

"What I was going to say was that you should seriously consider it. She's offering a quest if you do."

"Hai," Asuna said, cutting in. "And the elves appear to know magic. Being friends with them, even though they are just NPC's could prove helpful."

Eugene thought about it, and nodded. "I suppose you're right. Men, if you do not wish to return the stolen equipment, then feel free to leave the Green Bandits." The guild all nodded, and immediately handed over what they took.

"I appreciate the gesture," Lady Sayadrin said. "But if you truly wish to have our gratitude, and our friendship, there is one more thing we ask of you. To the north of here, there is a band of goblin thieves. They are less honorable than you, and we think that someone should pay them a visit. We're not asking you to kill them, but we would like the gold they stole back."

"Kirito," Eugene said. "We can let your group take this one, if you'd like. Take it as a gesture of gratitude for not killing us."

Kirito shook his head. "No… I was being a dick back there. I hope you'll forgive me."

"Very well," Eugene continued. "Lady Sayadrin, we accept your quest."

"Thank you," the elf said. "I will return to my village now. Return there when you have completed your task."

"I suppose this is good-bye for now," Kirito said.

"You haven't introduced me to your friends, though."

"Oh, uh, I'm Asuna, and that's Silica. The archer is Sinon. Nice to meet you. Kirito never told us about you."

"Oh he didn't? Well, it's a great story. You should ask him about it some time. Farewell!" With that, the Green Bandits all headed off on their quest. Kirito and his group started to head back to Eastown.

"What was he talking about, Kirito?" Asuna asked.

"We fought in Alfheim," Kirito said. "It was… it was when you were still trapped. To tell you the truth, I actually nearly forgot about him!"

* * *

><p>Back in Eastown, the sun was going down, getting ready to set. Sampson sat alone on a rock just outside of the town. Tex found him and approached him. "Hey, Sammy," she said. "How's it going?"<p>

Sampson sighed, and looked down at the ground. "After nearly four weeks here, I'm starting to wonder. Are we ever going to make it out of this game?"

"I'm sure we will, eventually," she said. "They're probably working on it right now."

"But how much longer will it take? I grow weary and worried. My family in the real world lives far away from where I must be hospitalized. Have they even been contacted? They must be worried sick. My heart is sorry for them, and the pain they must be enduring."

"Well yeah, they are probably worried. I can't imagine that they haven't been contacted by now. Where are you in the real world?"

"I had just entered my final semester at Harvard. I was studying English."

"Well see, there! The school probably got in touch with your parents. Where are ya from, Sampson?"

"Iceland," he said. "You don't seem shocked that I'm attending… or was attending Harvard. Many people are, and they don't believe me."

"I don't know much about fancy schools and universities and whatnot, I barely made it out of junior year. My teachers and my parents say I'm too distracted, and I got some medical like issues or somethin'. But I'm seventeen. You'd think I'd know by now if I had any problems, right?"

"Even at the age of twenty-two, I still discover new things about myself. My strength, both physically and mentally… and now emotionally, is always put to the test." Sampson leaned back, and looked up at the sky. "I miss my home. The northern lights are among the most beautiful of things I've ever seen."

"I miss it too. The night sky in the desert, and the sunsets… The sunsets were beautiful." Tex laid down on the grass, and watched the sky with Sampson. "But don't get down because you're not strong enough. You're stronger than a lot of people I know. Maybe not my dad. My dad's pretty strong."

"I know I am strong, Tex," he said. "But I always have to ask… is it strong enough? Lately I feel that I am not."

"Well think of it this way. If you were strong enough to do everything, then you'd never have the challenge of overcoming anything new. If you were strong enough to overcome everything that happened, would you be any happier than having to push yourself."

"You're very smart," he said. "And very kind. I appreciate it. You must have great strength too. Despite the troubles of the world, you're always smiling. Always happy. I admire that."

"Thanks," she said. "It's really nothin'. My big brother always tells me that if you're not smiling, you're not happy, and if you're not happy, then that's your own fault. He said I just have to let myself be happy sometimes, even when things don't always seem so great."

"I suppose there is some wisdom in that."

As they talked, Kirito and the others rode up on the town. Tex noticed them first, and hopped up, waving at them in greeting. "Hey, welcome back!" she shouted.

The group all stopped and got off their horses to greet them. "How fared you on your quest, heroes?" Sampson asked.

"I swear, sometimes I think this guy's an NPC," Silica said.

"We found the elves. We found more players, and then we found magic!" Asuna seemed excited. "I can't wait to start doing magic again."

"Magic?" Sampson asked.

"Hai," Kirito said. "The elves used magic, and pretty soon, once we're in better standing, we think they might teach us how to use it. Let's call a town meeting. We'll tell everyone all about it."

They all left to head into the town. The spots the left were marked with two large stones. One of them had the name "Ironclad" carved into it.


	6. Chapter 6: Moving Forward

"Director," an agent said. The IVRTF held another meeting in the board room. All of the agents leading cases were present. His nametag read "Donald Zimmar." He stood up, and addressed the room as a whole. "In light of recent discoveries about the involvement of the SAO PK guild, Laughing Coffin, and their involvement in the creation of the death game, I would like to propose a radical tactic in our fight against these terrorists."

"You have the floor."

"Thank you sir. Because of the way this group has been found to operate, I believe an infiltration mission will become necessary. I'm not thinking about this game, sire, but the next one… the next ten. It seems clear to me that PK guilds and organizations will never lose their obsession with murder. Even once we end the current game and free the players… even assuming we can do that, we know that more players are bound to join the PK guilds, and their cause. If the game ends, we our intelligence resources will not be fast enough to shut them down permanently. New terrorist cells with the same objectives as Laughing Coffin will emerge."

"So what are you proposing, exactly?"

"We send… one hundred of our own agents into the game…" Before finishing, the whole room seemed shocked at the idea. No one agreed and there was nothing but protest. "…with the mission to infiltrate these player-killer groups, and keep detailed records of their usernames, their plans, and their actions throughout the course of the game."

"No!" another agent shouted. "Don't you realize what you're asking?"

"In order to perform subterfuge to that degree…"

"They'd have to become murders themselves. We can't ask our own agents to kill innocent people."

"Director, sir," Zimmar said. "Please understand that we have no way of knowing what's happening within the game. No way of knowing who we can trust once the game ends. And we won't have the manpower, or the time, much less the legal right to keep tabs on every single player twenty-four-seven once this game ends. Even if we did have a way of knowing what was going on in the game right now, it'd take another hundred and seventy thousand people working day in and day out watching every player."

The room was still in uproar. "Quiet!" the director shouted. Everyone settled down. "I've heard you proposal. It's something we may have to consider in the future, but right now, I don't think we're that desperate. We'll keep that possibility in mind going forward. But I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that."

"Sir, you cannot be seriously considering that plan, at all. Not now, not in the future. It's ludicrous."

"Not to mention suicide! We have no way of extracting our agents once they're in the game, and they'll be weeks behind the other players trying to kill them! Months once we finally put them into the game!"

"This meeting is adjourned." The director got up from his seat, and left the room. The agents remained there, arguing over the plan.

* * *

><p>In the game, things were about to get worse. It had been one month, exactly thirty-one days since it began. A loud knock came to Kirito's door. He woke up, and Asuna with him.<p>

"Kirito! We're under attack!" It was an unfamiliar voice, and was cut off by a cry of pain.

"Kirito, ehh?" A new voice was on the other side of the door. Kirito and Asuna jumped out of bed and equipped their best gear without hesitation. "What a wonderful surprise!" The player behind the voice broke through the door. "I will be the one to slay the mighty hero!" The man wore a black cloak, and a mask of bronze.

As he rushed through the door, he lifted his right arm, wielding a bronze scimitar, to strike. On his arm, he had a tattoo of the Laughing Coffin insignia. Asuna blocked his attack, and Kirito plunged his sword through the man. He wasn't dead yet, but bleeding out, his health draining quickly. Once he was dead, Kirito pulled his blade back and looked at Asuna.

The two of them just gave a nod to each other, and ran out of the room. As they left, a sword swung and nearly decapitated Asuna when she went through. She was so stunned by the close call that she panicked and stumbled to the ground. Kirito parried the attacker's next strike, and knocked his sword away. After that, it was a quick slash to the throat, and letting the player-killer bleed out.

After helping Asuna up, Kirito ran down the hall, and down the wooden stairs. On the main floor of the inn, players were all fighting. Metal clashed and clanged, and the two of them jumped into the fray. They each made killing blows on their enemies, and it didn't take long for the inn to be completely cleared.

"Everyone, outside, it's not safe here!" Kirito yelled. "Stay behind us if you can't fight, and if you can, help those who cannot!"

The group of players ran out of the inn. Laughing Coffin were all over the place. They rode on horseback and wielded not only bronze weapons, but torches and buckets of oil. They set structures ablaze. One of the fire starters was riding up to Kirito. Asuna knelt down, and thrust her spear up into the horse, stopping it. The rider went tumbling off, losing his torch to the ground. The other players all swarmed him and hacked and slashed until he was dead.

Sampson was in the courtyard, and several mounted combatants were surround him. One charged in, and he took a swing with his mighty axe, killing the horse instantly, and knocking the rider off. The rest of the attackers swarmed in, though, and he couldn't fight them all off.

That's when Kirito and Asuna charged to his rescue, each deliver decisive blows to the raiders. Once a few of them were down, the rest all ran from the trio. "Kirito, Asuna. I am glad you are safe," Sampson said. "Where are the others?"

Lisbeth screamed in the distance, being forced into a corner by three killers. She was able to hold them off long enough for Sampson to charge. He plowed through two of them, knocking them down, and used the bottom end of his axe to knock the third farther away. Now on his back, the down player tried to get up, but not before Sampson brought his axe down onto his head.

"My hero," Lisbeth said, giving Sampson a more-than-appreciative glance.

Asuna swung her spear like a staff and knocked one of the two players attacking Lisbeth back down, dealing a good chunk of damage. "Not the time, Lis!"

Lisbeth nodded and slashed at the other one when he got up. After a few hits, he was dead. She looked back to Asuna, who was pulling her spear out of a corpse. Then she looked around. "Guys, look." She pointed with her sword to the downed players. "They don't all have player cursors. A lot of them don't."

Kirito looked around, observing the same thing. "Why wouldn't they all attack in person?"

Sinon shot a target from a near-by rooftop, scoring a critical hit with a headshot, and killing it instantly. "There!" she shouted to Kirito. The enemy raiders were already starting to beat a retreat. But three player characters were leading the run away from town. She drew another arrow, and fired. It flew far, and hit one of the player characters on the lower back. He didn't die, but he fell from his horse and was left alone.

Kirito and the others all approached this downed player to have a chat. He groaned and pulled the arrow out of him. He looked up at the group, and cursed under his breath. "I've got nothing to say to you."

* * *

><p>The captured Laughing Coffin member was tied to an anvil in the forge. "Has he said anything?" Kirito asked as he entered the building.<p>

"No," Lisbeth said. She leaned against a rack of weapons across from the player, and held her blacksmithing hammer in her hand. "Can I take a stab at him now?"

A player had followed Kirito into the forge. He was one of the town's leaders. "You're one of the monsters who put us here. How do we stop the game?"

The man laughed at the question, and shook his head. "There's no stopping it. That's why we made it. You'll never get out! Welcome to your new home."

"I didn't think we'd get anywhere with that." Kirito sighed, and looked at their prisoner. "Why'd you attack us?"

The player shut up, and looked down.

"He asked you a question, dirt bag," Lisbeth said. "It's in your best interest to answer."

"Or what? You'll kill me?"

"Sampson," Kirito said. "Break his arm."

Sampson approached the anvil, and the player looked back at him. He was suddenly very nervous. "What? You're not serious, are you?" Sampson knelt down, and touched his fist to the man's arm, as if getting ready to punch. "Alright, alright! It was our one-month anniversary, and we'd thought we'd have a celebration."

"A celebration." The town leader was appalled. "Killing people…"

"It's what they do," Kirito said.

"Can't wait to see what they do for Christmas. I'm not going to hear any more of this. Good luck." The leader left the forge, and went out to address the town. It was broad daylight now, and all of the reviving townsfolk were gathered, waiting for news. "As the… now sole leader of Eastown, I've decided to entrust the prisoner to the A team in there. From here out, his fate is up to them. As a town, we have to move on from this tragedy, and rebuild what was destroyed… Because we still have to survive this game." The crowd seemed disappointed, all wanting the man's head, but all went back to work.

Inside the forge, Kirito's group was still taking shots at the prisoner. "Are there any other attacks planned, or was it just us… here?"

The man laughed at him for a moment, not believing it was a serious question. He didn't answer, and after a pause, realized that it was indeed serious. "What, really? You think it was just this town? Some celebration… attack the smallest player town in the world."

"Where else was it?" Asuna asked.

He snickered a bit. "Everywhere. We used NPC attackers to bolster our numbers, and launched a simultaneous raid on every town the players currently occupy. We expected this little one to be wiped off the map. But then… you were here."

Kirito left the building, and dragged other members of his party out with him. "We need to send scout parties to every town we know of, and check for survivors."

"Riders on the approach!" A player shouted from atop a small wooden watch tower. "Unknown faction!"

The group of mounted soldiers entered the town, and stopped in the square. Their armor was all of iron, and so was their weapons. It was all also colored to match: white with solid blue trimming. From horseback, the head of their party looked around.

"Hey," Kirito said. "Who are you guys?"

"We mean no harm," he said. "My name is Eulsam. Are you the Kirito who joined the scouting union in the first week?"

"Yes," he said, and gestured back to the rest of them. "And this is my group. Are you part of the town of New Beginnings."

"We just call it Newberg now," the rider said. He dismounted his horse, which was also armored. "Last night, we were attacked, and we have learned since that this was a massive coordinated attack against all player towns. We are the Vearth Protectors Guild, and as of last night, have absorbed control over the security and armed forces of Newberg."

"Well, great. We're fine. We lost a few, but for the most part, we kept up our defenses. We captured a prisoner—"

"We'll take him, then."

Kirito blinked, and then glared at Eulsam. "Actually, we're interrogating him."

"We already know everything we need to, and we've a prison and a courthouse in Newberg where we will put all accused criminals on trial. We don't intend to kill anyone except for ringleaders of murderers, and those we consider an ongoing threat."

Kirito walked up to Eulsam, growing aggravated at his assumption of power. "I don't know who you think you are, but you can't just come in here and tell us what to do. You don't have the right."

Eulsam just about ignored Kirito, and turned to head towards the town hall. The leader of the town came out to speak to him at the same time. "Greetings, what was it, Eulsam. I am—"

"Are you in charge here?"

"Yes, my name is—"

"You are relieved of leadership. We need to use this town's facilities and resources, and are declaring a state of marshal law. This town will be used as a military base in the efforts against the Laughing Coffin, Red-Handed, and Death Oath."

Now Eulsam was beginning to aggravate a lot of players. "Listen to me," Kirito said, moving in front of Eulsam. "You don't have the right to do that!"

"Kirito," Eulsam said. "You and your group are to assemble a raid party out of the townspeople. Take them northward and retake the town of Arburs from Laughing Coffin."

Kirito was dumbfounded. He looked to the rest of his party, and they didn't seem to know how to respond to Eulsam. "Eulsam. I am not your soldier. We are free people. You can't just order us around like that!"

Eulsam drew two swords, one from his back and one from his side. He held them both to Kirito, and walked towards them. Kirito backed up while he drew his own blade. "Master dual wielding swordsman. Hero of sword art online. Champion of Vearth… where is your second blade now? Draw your weapon and show me your skills. Mayhaps prove to me your worth and I will let you give the orders."

The rest of Kirito's groups had their weapons drawn and moved to Kirito's defense. The rest of Eulsam's forces remained calm, watching. They didn't seem the least bit concerned for their leader's safety even against the large group at Kirito's side.

Kirito sheathed his blade, and shook his head before turning and walking away. "No," he said. "Fighting is my choice, and so is following anyone's orders. I choose not to."

His group followed his lead. Eulsam sheathed his weapons, and Leafa went back to get Lisbeth from the forge, and they all mounted up, getting ready to leave.

"Kirito," Eulsam said. "This world needs heroes. And right now they are in short supply. The wills of the players are faltering, and they need people like you… like us, to take the lead. If you will not aide our efforts against the player killers, then what is your purpose here?"

"The same as you… but your way isn't the only way," Kirito said. His group began to ride off.

"The forces of evil in this world are many, and united! If we cannot come together, we cannot possibly stand! You will never defeat them all on your own! When you're ready to work with others, come back and we shall save this world together!" It was a waste of breath. Kirito's group was already far away by the time he finished.

"Who was that guy?" Asuna asked. "The way he pulled out dual swords, his stats must be similar to yours. No… not just similar, they'd have to be a near perfect match."

"With over eighty thousand players," Agil said. "It's honestly not surprising that unique abilities are a little less… unique."

"Eulsam… Vearth Protectors…" Kirito spoke mostly to himself, thinking.

* * *

><p>"Sir," Seijiro said. He spoke to the IVRTF Director of Operations, Kojji Makatawa. This meeting was held in a different room, a large hospital-like area. Doctor's were hooking up what appeared to be soldiers to monitors. They wore camo, and were all physically fit, and had dog tags. Some though were not so clearly soldiers. "I must say, I think this is a bad idea."<p>

"What choice do we have? Zimmar went over our heads with this one. We can't tell the United States Government what to do, and it'd be better if we worked together rather than not at all."

"If we keep taking drastic measures out of fear like this, we'll be responsible for as many deaths as Laughing Coffin."

"I know, but… maybe this is necessary. Maybe it will work out in the long run. At the very least, we don't have to worry about sending in some of our own for this suicide mission. Unless you want to join them. I could make it happen, and I understand you have built a good working relationship with Kirito and a few of the others."

"I would… I appreciate the offer, Director, but I know I can do more for all of them right here."

"I'm glad you think so. Because I have something you might want to get in on." Kojji handed some papers to Seijiro, and he looked them over.

He was stunned at something he read, but in a good way. It was good news. "Sir… it's really possible, then?"

"Yes… I want you on the next flight to Japan. I'm re-assigning you to the VIP division. There you'll head of a team of experts as they figure out how to make it work for the players stuck in the game."

"Yes, sir. Thank you." Seijiro left after that.

* * *

><p>Kirito's group had a camp set up in the forest. It was morning, and everyone was getting up to start the day off. Sampson was on watch, along with Lisbeth, who'd volunteered to take the watch with him.<p>

Kirito left his tent with a yawn, and a stretch. He took middle watch so he had the most disturbed sleep schedule. "Morning, Asuna," he said. When he looked to his side though, Asuna was staying in her sleeping bag.

"Good morning, Kirito," Sampson said as he approached. "How did you sleep?"

"Good."

"And your lovely lady?"

"She's fine, Sampson, just start packing up."

The rest of the group had already begun doing just that. It was easy mostly, just tapping each item and storing it in their player inventories. "So what's the bet today?" Klein asked.

"You keep making bets, and you keep losing. I will bet you my first watch tomorrow against your cleaning duties," Silica said.

"You're on!"

"Klein," Agil said. "Every day, you bet on whether or not we'll reach the edge of the forest, and we never do, so you keep losing!"

"Your point?"

"Klein… you have a serious problem."

"Klein needs an intervention guys," Tex said. "Everyone gather around." She sat on a log, and held Klein's hands. "Klein… how does your gambling make you feel?"

Klein took his hands back. "I'm just trying to keep up spirits! We'll reach the edge of the forest eventually!"

"Klein does make a good point," Sampson said as he mounted up. "We've got to pass the time and keep our hopes up! More of the game is out there somewhere, and we have to find it!" He charged forward. The rest of the players followed soon after.

After about half a day's worth of travel, they stopped to rest again, and to eat. Kirito prepared a fire pit, and Asuna started cooking.

"What's for lunch, chef?" Lisbeth asked, sitting down.

"Deer meat. Deer meat and roasted apples." She started cooking her dish up, and a few moments later, they all had their food, and were eating happily.

"Feeling better, Asuna?" Kirito asked, quietly so as not to worry the others.

"Hai," she said. "All I need now is some gravy… and ice cream. I could really go for a bowl of ice cream right now."

Everyone let out a sigh in unison. "I miss ice cream," Klein said. "And pizza…"

"Don't we all," Tex said. "I tell ya, what I really miss is my ma's home cooked food. Every thanksgiving, she cooked up a huge meal and all our friends at church came. The stuffing was delicious. Afterwards, we'd all go out to this local ice cream place where they served vanilla ice cream right on top of a hot, fudge brownie. No greater combination of flavors has ever been discovered."

"That does sound good," Kirito said. "Sure puts deer meat and roasted apples to shame." Asuna glared at him. "Not that this isn't good." He threw up his hands defensively. "It is! It's delicious…"

"I think we all miss the foods we used to eat in the real world," Agil said. "I haven't seen any beer or ale in this world yet. Maybe I should try brewing some!"

"I haven't had a drink in a few years," Sampson said. "I stopped because I didn't want to worry about my health. But in this world, I doubt alcohol has long-term effects. I could go for a drink or two."

"I never drank," Yuuki said. "Not even in games, it just tastes gross."

"Well, you don't drink alcohol for taste, you know," Kirito said.

"I think it's probably overrated," Silica said, agreeing with Yuuki.

"Suit yourselves, more for us!" Klein said. "Agil, let me know if you do that, I'd like to help if I can."

After they all ate, they relaxed for a bit. "I'm hungry," Asuna said after a few moments of silence. "Maybe its feelings from the real world bleeding over, and I'm sure our stomachs are all empty there, but I really really want more food right now."

"Maybe that's why you felt sick this morning. Just real world hunger," Kirito said.

As the conversation went on normally, Sampson stopped listening, thinking for a moment. Mid-conversation he stood up, and spoke up. "Asuna," he said. "If you're hungry, let's go look for more fruits, I will help you find some!"

"Sure!" she said, getting up. "I'll be back in a bit, guys."

"Hai," Kirito said. "We'll be ready to go."

Asuna and Sampson headed off into the forest a short ways away. Once they were a good distance from the group, Sampson spoke up. "Asuna, I needed to speak with you privately. I am sorry for my rudeness in doing so."

"What about?" She was mildly confused, and watched him curiously.

He sat down, and beckoned her to sit as well. "Asuna. Forgive me for this bold question, but it is relevant and I'll explain why in a moment. But… did you engage in sexual intercourse before going into the game?"

Asuna's face went beet red. "Th-that's personal! W-why would you ask that?" She was even a little creeped out by the question, and started to get up.

"You don't have to answer that to me. I'm sorry for embarrassing you, but I've noticed some things about you as of late. You've been craving food more, and at odd times. You just ate, and now you want ice cream."

"Y-yeah, but it's not unnatural to want desert after a meal."

"Then Kirito said something that caught my attention. You were sick this morning?"

Asuna nodded slowly. She wasn't following.

Sampson sighed, and looked at her, and just waited for the pieces to fit together in her mind.

Suddenly, Asuna's eyes opened wide, and she stammered incoherently. "I… I'm… I'm…"

Kirito suddenly came over to the two of them, and she shut silent at his voice from behind her. "We're heading out. Any luck?"

Sampson looked to Asuna before answering. She shook her head frantically, and shot up like a spring. "Nope, no luck! Let's get going, we have to get out of the forest today, remember!"

Kirito blinked, and nodded. "Uhh, yeah, let's go!" He turned around and headed back to the group. Everyone was ready and waiting.

Before following, Asuna turned to Sampson. She let out a deep breath. "Thank you for your concern… and for putting the pieces together for me. Now please… don't tell anyone. I want to be sure… somehow… before anyone knows. Okay."

"As you wish, m'lady." Sampson and Asuna then headed back to the group.

A couple more hours passed. As they rode, the trees began to thin, and the sun shined bright over their heads. "There," Asuna said, pointing forward. "There's a clearing, a big one!"

The rest of the group saw it soon after, and they raced forward at top speed towards the edge of the forest and into a new zone. They all stopped at the forest's edge, and looked out. But what they saw wasn't the most inspiring sight to take in.

"Dessert…" Klein said.

Nothing but a sea of sand for miles and miles, and tall mountains in the distance beyond the dunes. To their south the forest seemed to continue on for a ways, the trees getting bigger and taller. To the north, the forest extended and got thicker.

"Our horses aren't going to do us any good here," Tex said. "They'd be fine if it was flatter, and the sand was packed down more, but this." She hopped off of her horse, and stored it in her inventory. Kneeling down to the ground, she picked up some sand and sifted it through her fingers. "This is loose sand. It's going to be a hard road ahead."

Everyone else dismounted and did the same, storing their horses, and they stood there for a moment, none of them wanting to go on.

"Well," Kirito said. "We move forward."


	7. Chapter 7: The Natural Beauty of Texas

In Texas, rural landscapes make room for vast, open deserts and scrubs. Dirt roads pave the way to scenic views and, away from any cities or towns, the lack of artificial light on the ground lets the night sky shine in all its glory. Part of its beauty comes from the great scale one realizes when looking up. All of those thousands of stars in the galaxy, and the one we revolve around couldn't even be seen in the night sky because it's so dim by comparison. Perspective is a powerful thing.

* * *

><p>Such is simply not the case on Vearth. No digital environment could ever hope to fully capture the immense scale of the cosmos. Even if all of the stars were put together perfectly, to paint a perfect and exact replica of the night sky on Earth, it would not behold the same glory. Those stars in the digital realm are just lights in the sky, and simply knowing that changes everything. The view of the cosmos loses its meaning altogether.<p>

The dunes of sand were no different than the picture of an empty universe. They expanded endlessly and even the most powerful engines in the world all working at once couldn't possibly count every grain. It draws the picture, and to the players, it gives the feeling of coarseness, and the texture of sand. It presents the mind with ideas of what it ought to look like, and then lets it take over, filling in what is actually nothing more than a few cleverly written lines of code with sand.

It has the effect of draining out all of the natural beauty the desert holds, and leaving the player with nothing but the very basic principles of sand. It takes it all and disintegrates it into a set of rules: buffs and effects. The sand in the game is like the stars. All fake.

And from those sands, every once in a while, the program would call for a creature to sprout forth. It wasn't buried beneath the sand, but it leaves the players to think it was, and perhaps later will create an effect on the ground to create the illusion of burial. But in truth, once the great worm retracts into the soil, it ceases to exist, all but its vital stats, to re-appear elsewhere. The game, as always, is a program like any other, a set of rules by which the computer generates buffs and effects, and leaves the players to interpret them to create the picture themselves.

The creature roars. It is a worm, or a centipede, or a snake. It doesn't matter, it isn't real. The sound it makes is another code. The AmuSphere turns the code into minute electromagnetic pulses, projected into Kirito's brain. Kirito's brain is fooled into thinking it "hears" a creature called a Sand Wyrm about to attack. The brain reacts, more impulses firing up, and the AmuSphere reads them. It turns his thoughts into a program, and the program says to swing a sword.

And so it happens. The other players go through the same process, the device turning a program into visuals into pulses… but the mind decides what it is… what it sees and hears.

And the resistance of the impact between the sword and the thick skin of the creature is all the same. But is that any different than the real world?

In the real world, do our eyes not simply turn light into signals to send to the brain? Do our bodies not turn pressures and strains into those same signals, into a different part of the brain? What difference should it make that instead of the players' bodies taking in light and sound and pain, that the device, the AmuSphere does it for them?

If it looks, feels and sounds real, what is the real difference? Our brain follows programs the same as the computer. It's all just a system of collecting, interpreting and sending out data. The only real difference is in the scale of the universe versus the scale of the limited environment within the game.

Kirito strained his body to fight the monster. He gritted his teeth and put all of his strength into that swing, and then bounced back. His entire group was whittling the beast down.

Yet, one snap from its teeth at Agil knocked him down from full health to just under fifty percent. "Kirito!" he shouted. "It's too strong, we need to retreat!"

Asuna helped Tex up off of the ground, and Lisbeth was pulling Leafa up. Half of the group was at or below twenty percent health. Kirito looked back, and saw this. He himself was nearing the fifty percent mark. He nodded, and turned to start running away.

His group was thankful for the choice, and turned to run ahead of him. The beast was not quite ready to give up, however, especially when it could have a good, free meal of human meat. Or… at least that was the supposed motivation, the one that the group had assigned to something that was merely a simple "hostile," setting somewhere in its core programming.

It appeared to dive into the sea of sand, and the surface rolled above it as it moved for them. It was too fast for the players, and rose up above the soil once again, ahead of all of them. Leafa held up her hands, and a familiar circle of words began to float around her. She at least, had access to arcane magic. She spoke three words, and the sand around the worm suddenly hardened, turning to stone, and trapping the creature in place.

Sampson took the opportunity, even with less than twenty percent of his health remaining, and charged the beast. He cleaved into it with his axe, dealing significant damage, and then jumped back.

Yuuki took the assault next, and entered in with a strong, multi-hit combo. Kirito was the last to jump in, and slashed at it several times himself. The beast was now below fifty percent. Silica stayed back, fearing the short range on her weapon would spell her doom if she got too close.

Asuna made a chance attack, hurling her spear up at the monster like a javelin, and hitting it, but not for much damage. Tex and Sinon, both with a bow now, took a shot at the creature. No critical hits, but still managing to push it down below twenty percent.

Finally, Klein stepped in, making a heavy slash with its sword, and at the same time, Agil swing at it with his axe. The beast wasn't dead yet. A close read of its vitals read that three hit points still remained. Not only that, but all of the melee attackers suffered return damage, as the blood of the monster was apparently acidic.

Lisbeth held off her attack, instead concentrating on using a new taunt ability to hold its attention. She could block at least some of the damage if it struck her. And it most certainly did, snapping down with its head at Lisbeth. She caught the initial impact with her shield, and deflected it to one side, but being knocked back and taking a small amount of damage herself. Now, she everyone in the party showed that their health was knocked below fifty percent.

Leafa managed to score the killing blow, firing a bolt of arcane magic at the beast, and knocking down the last of its hit points. The worm fell, collapsing against the sand.

Wind howled, even more than before. "Kirito!" Sinon shouted, pointing off in the distance. The group looked that way, and a huge cloud of sand had picked up. A sandstorm was coming.

Kirito squinted his eyes, and summoned his mount. "Everyone, mount up! They won't be as fast, but still faster than we can run!" Everyone followed his lead, and they didn't even bother looting the monster as time was short.

They ran on horseback, as fast as they could, away from the storm. They got lucky, and found a small cave with no monsters, and hid there as they let the storm blow over.

"I think we've hit our limit," Asuna said. They were all now safe within the cave, and the storm was buffeting at the entrance. "We need to go back, or go somewhere else. That thing was a normal level mob. If we ran into two of those at once, we'd be killed."

"Hai," Kirito said. "We're pretty far away from anything though, and we've taken so many turns and stopped so many times… it's hard to tell which way is back to the forest."

"Let's worry about finding our way when the sun comes up. In the night, it's too dark too see anything far away." Sinon looked out of the cave at the storm. "Assuming the entrance doesn't get buried."

"I think I have something that can help," Leafa said. "It's a spell called 'locate players.' It's made to detect player characters up to several miles away, and will point us in the direction of the nearest group of players outside of our own group."

"Sounds good," Tex said.

"What if it points us towards a player-killer group?" Klein asked.

"Whether we're killed by other players or killed by the monsters makes no difference. We know we can't take on those worms if they come in groups, though." Kirito sighed and looked out the entrance. "If they're players, there's a better chance of us surviving the encounter than if we keep venturing forward, where we will almost certainly run into a mob we can't fight."

The next day, the group left the cave, which was fortunately left uncovered by the passing storm. Everyone had managed to restore their health completely. Leafa stood in the sand, and cast her spell. A bulb of light appeared, and floated up in the sky over their heads. Then, it whizzed off to the south, and went far past the players' vision.

"Alright," Kirito said. "We have our heading. There's no way of telling how far away the players are, so be on your guard."

Kirito and the rest of the group continued their trek through the desert. As the sun rose higher, it got hotter, and the players' endurance was gradually falling as the marched through the loose sand. Eventually though, they reached a small patch of grass and trees, surrounding three pools of water, an oasis.

Klein rushed ahead, and dove to the grass, hugging the ground. "So dramatic," Silica said. Tex and Sampson though did something similar. Tex took off her boots, and walked bare foot through the patch, feeling it on her feet. Sampson reached down to pluck a white flower.

When the rest of the players all caved in, and stopped to enjoy the grass, Silica shrugged, and joined in. They drank the water, and refilled canisters they had brought with them which were nearly emptied out.

"What a stroke of luck," Tex said.

"Lucky indeed," a new voice said. A man walked up behind Tex. More came behind him. They all wore cloth armor, and wielded steel weapons, all drawn and they were ready to fight. Each of their right hands were exposed, and painted red.

Kirito got up from getting a drink. "Hey look guys, we really aren't in the mood for a fight right now, so if you could just go away, that'd be great…"

The man who was apparently the leader of the opposing party laughed. He had short, brown hair, and tanned skin. The armor he wore covered almost every inch of his body besides his head and his one, red hand. "Oh, we're not going anywhere," he said. "But we thought it'd make for some good fun to strip you and force you to march back out into the hot desert to die." The rest of them jeered at the suggestion.

Kirito and the rest drew their weapons. The other group only laughed more. The leader took a swipe at Kirito's sword, to try and knock it away, but failed. "What level are you guys?" the man asked, looking at their name plates. "I see… twenty-nine at the highest, and the lowest twenty-one. I think we, ranging from twenty-five to thirty-one have you a little outmatched. But that's not even half the story. Is that an iron sword?"

Kirto twirled his blade around the enemy leader's, trying to disarm him. The man backpedaled, avoiding the disarming maneuver.

"A warrior is not made by his weapon," Sampson said, stepping forward with his large axe.

"Maybe not," the man said. He took a quick, but false strike at Kirito, turning his blade at the last moment into a defensive parry. Kirito fell for the trap, and suddenly found his sword flung out of his hand.

Kirito's group was all ready to fight. Sinon and Tex had arrows drawn. Leafa was ready to start casting. Even Asuna had now drawn the iron sword originally made for Kirito, previously wielded by Tex before she got a bow.

The opposition didn't seem to making any moves to attack, except for their leader who seemed to enjoy simply toying with Kirito. "Pick up your sword," the man said.

Kirito carefully moved to the side, and picked his sword up off of the ground.

The enemy twirled his blade around, and bowed before Kirito. Then he put his left foot back, and turned his side to Kirito, holding his sword out in classic fencing stance. "Your move."

Kirito charged, going to swing his sword down at his target. The man's sword was a saber, curving back. Only one side of the blade was sharpened, the other left dull. So when Kirito struck, he pulled it perpendicular to the incoming attack, and bared the dull backside against his off-hand. When Kirito's sword hit the saber, it broke around it.

"Steel beats iron. Every time," the man said. "Now… will the rest of you fight us? Or will you be good and do as we say?"

Kirito looked at his sword, the broken half in his hand. He dropped it, and took a step back. "Guys…" He was incredibly nervous, and so was everyone else.

Klein, being brave, moved forward, going to attack the leader, only to have his sword broken next. Yuuki and Asuna looked at each other, and nodded. They both attacked the enemy leader at once. The man let both of their swords hit the ground as he moved out of the way, and then left both woman with a slashing. They wore armor, so it didn't deal much damage, but left them more worried than before.

This man wasn't even continuing the assault, he was just patiently matching the group move for move. He was prideful, and confident. And based on what he'd said, he meant them to die.

"You and your iron and bronze weapons," he said. "Just give up. Surrender and we will let you live… as our slaves."

"Eserius," an even newer voice spoke, muffled. A third group of players appeared. They wore cloth armor like the others. One of them had a long, ornate bow up, with an arrow drawn. Another had a steel saber, like the leader they'd called out to. The one front and center, the apparent leader of their group, wielding a weapon of an unusual design. All of their faces were completely hidden, except for their eyes which in the light could be barely seen.

"Y-you!" the man turned to look at the group of three. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Collecting your heads." The arrow loosed, and cut right through one of the red-handed player's eyes, killing him instantly. The warrior bearing a saber charged down the hill, and engaged the group of now four, dancing through their strikes easily, and slaying each of 'Eserius's' subordinates in turn. Neither of the two attacked this Eserius.

"Who… are you guys?" Asuna asked. Kirito's group watched without interfering.

"You don't know who anyone is, do you?" Eserius said. "They're player-killers. Big leaguers from the south." He seemed just as nervous as Kirito was previously… more so, as he seemed to shake in fear.

Kirito looked at all of their cursors. Eserius's and these three new players' were all red. "Player-killers…"

"We," the muffled voice spoke. It was difficult to tell who was speaking. "…are the slayers of the murderers and rapists in this world. We are the face of reckoning to all those who assault the innocent and defenseless. The Black Wardens. And soon the time will come for you and all of your Red-Handed guild-mates to atone for your countless sins in this world. Come, face justice, Eserius."

The saber-wielding player pushed Eserius forward towards the player with the unique weapon. It was a three-bladed weapon, and at its center was a disc-shape. So it was like a shield with three, broad and curved blades sticking out of it.

Eserius moved forward and raised his weapon to attack. When his blade came down, his enemy raised the weapon, and spun it slightly, using one of its blades to knock the saber to the dirt, and then pushed forward, the next blade slashing at Eserius.

He stumbled back, and gripped his throat. It was cut and blood was pouring out. He was losing health fast, and dropped to his knees. The warden moved forward slowly, and struck him once more, this time decapitating him and killing him instantly.

"Black Wardens," Kirito said. "Red-Handed. How far have we gone away from the forest?"

"Pretty far," one of them said. "Come with us, you're not safe here, especially not with those weapons. We will take you to Fir'Spruce, a town in the greater forest region south of here. There you can re-arm yourselves."

"You're player-killers too," Asuna said.

"Yeah, how can we trust you?" Lisbeth asked.

The leader of their group turned and started walking south. The other wardens followed without a word.

"Wait," Asuna said. "S-so, you're just leaving us here?"

"I thought you couldn't trust us," the voice said, still heavily muffled.

"I don't think we have much of a choice," Agil said.

"Indeed. They did save us from those thugs." Sampson put his weapon away, and started to follow the wardens. Kirito went along with him, and though hesitant, the rest of the group followed suite as well.

After some whispering along the way, one of the voices spoke out again. "Kirito," it said.

"Hai?" Kirito hustled up to catch up to listen.

"You're the hero of SAO. That can only mean your party must be out here trying to out-level everyone. What is it you hope to accomplish, exactly?"

"We intended to outmatch PK'er guilds to help everyone," Asuna said, joining the conversation.

"We thought going out into the world would suit us, but clearly… we're doing this whole leveling thing wrong," Klein said.

"Yes, you are," the voice said. Kirito and the rest were a little annoyed at that. The evidence was clear though. They'd run into two groups of higher level players in one day. "Consider this: SAO was devised by someone who wanted to play co-operatively with other players, to see groups win the game together. So it made sense that leveling through monster fighting and clearing dungeons was the way to go."

"I see," Kirito said. "Because Vearth was designed by Laughing Coffin, they favored those who leveled through PVP."

Asuna nodded knowingly. She put the pieces together too. The rest of the group took a bit longer to realize this. "So we're underleveled and undergeared because we haven't done as much PVP."

"We've only done one instance of real PVP," Lisbeth said. "And that was when Eastown was attacked."

"Our leader will join your party once you are ready," the voice said. "Mokatso will help you catch up, since you don't need much of it."

"What if we don't want to participate in PVP?" Asuna asked.

"Guilds like Red-Handed aren't going to give you a choice. Mokatso is only offering this favor due to your legacy. If it weren't for that, you'd be left to fend on your own once we arrive. We implore you to give the offer serious consideration."

"We're not murderers," Kirito said. "If we're attacked, we'll defend ourselves. But we're not going to go looking to kill players."

Mokatso suddenly turned, drawing the unique weapon and attacked Kirito's group. It was with great surprise and great fury. They each drew their weapons, but within seconds, the warden had either destroyed or disarmed those weapons. The bows were cut through, the axes knocked away, and Silica's dagger flung into the air, to land in the dirt. Mokatso moved like the wind with that tri-bladed weapon, using it as a shield and as a sword. The fact of its uniqueness alone made it nearly impossible to predict attack patterns.

The assault ended with Mokatso stopping a foot short of plunging one of those blades into Kirito. Then, the warden pulled back. In muffled tone, the voice spoke again, coming from this particular player now. "That's a shame," it said. "Because they're out to kill you. And I mean that in the literate. Laughing Coffin, Red-Handed, Death Oath… your fame has cost your party and anyone who ever spoke to you dearly. They have placed a bounty on your heads. Anyone who brings them to their leaders can join the guild and become promoted to officer instantly. Not to mention the fame that comes from slaying the hero of SAO, and his friends." Mokatso turned back and continued walking. "Perhaps it is fortunate you found yourself in the vast desert, away from other players. You might not have made it otherwise. I only have this advice to offer: don't make it easy for them."

Kirito's group was still stunned, in a state of half-panic. Those whose weapons didn't break collected them. Having nowhere else to go, and now even fewer usable weapons between them, they kept moving with the Black Wardens.

* * *

><p>"My fellow agents, ladies and gentlemen of the board… Director," Seijiro said. He was giving a presentation of some sort. "I am pleased to announce that today, we have made a major breakthrough in our case." The room was huge, an auditorium seating about one-hundred guests. "As you know, we've been struggling to try and find out what's happening inside the game. I'll spare you as much of the technical details as possible. We have discovered a safe, and more-importantly, covert way of seeing inside of the game ourselves. Using special equipment made to interface with the AmuSphere, we can get an audio-visual feed from individual players!"<p>

The crowd all seemed stunned at first. But soon after the initial silence, there was a slow build-up of clapping. Next were cries to see it in action.

"I know, it's exciting. And that's why I've brought you here today. Obviously, we have already tested this on and off, but you are going to be the first to see sustained footage from within the death game itself. First though, I want to talk about what this means, going forward. For starters, it means a lot more work."

The presentation began, as the projector flipped on. The first slide was a series of charts. "Our management staff has calculated that we'll need to add some new agents to our team… a lot more. Even if we just monitor the activities of a hundred players, we'll need roughly five hundred more recruits, just to watch and investigate the footage that comes out. This will of course be costly."

"Can we afford it?" someone asked. "Is it plausible to fund this at all?"

"No," Seijiro said, being blunt. "We've identified more than a hundred players we consider to be VIP's. People we want to monitor twenty-four-seven. One of the things I'm hoping we can accomplish in the coming weeks is finding a way to fund this massive effort. Several proposals have already been made including crowd-funding and outsourcing the work."

"What about the market value of the technology itself? Couldn't we get people to invest in this as the future of virtual reality gaming? Surely media is already looking for a way to capitalize on in-game events, or at least they were before this happened."

"What about the footage itself?" Everyone stopped talking. They weren't sure what this new speaker was saying. "It may sound… inconsiderate to the players and their families, but I bet there'd be a lot of media companies interested in getting their hands on the footage coming out of the game."

"That's beyond inconsiderate!" Another person spoke up. "It's not just a game we're talking about here. These are peoples' lives we're talking about!"

"I think it's worth exploring at least. If we need the money, and we need this done, then we don't have much of a choice. Countries are stacking up their debt over hospitalized players and their care. I have even heard whispers that some are considering pulling the plugs on players, except for those who have families willing to take the bills."

"Would it even be legal?"

"Maybe we can go halfway." Donald Zimmar said. "We'll allow each individual family to sell the rights to the footage to the media, and instead of the families being paid directly, the money goes to support our work."

"That could work," someone said.

"What about the consent of the players themselves?"

"Actually," Seijiro said, interrupting the discussion. "We might be able to get that to. I'll move one." The next slide was a video clip. It showed a test of a messaging system that the IVRTF had developed. "With this messaging system, we can bypass the game's firewalls by creating false player characters, run by computers that send the messages out to players in the game. We call it the Pegasus System. And based on the tests we've run, where we sent messages to some of our agents within the game. Out of a thousand test messages, none of them were detected by the game's internal security system."

"Has it been tested on a VIP?" someone asked. "Laughing Coffin may be more heavily monitoring them."

"No, no better time than now, I suppose." Seijiro gave a nod to a woman working projection. "Ladies and gentlemen. May I present to you the hero of Sword Art Online, Kirigaya Kazuto, AKA Kirito."

* * *

><p>It had been half a month since Mokatso escorted Kirito and his group to Fir'Spruce. In that time, they had nearly caught up to Mokatso's level, and now, the group, including Mokatso was clearing a dungeon. They had just found a good spot to rest, when suddenly, a blinking icon appeared on Kirito's vitals panel, a personal notification.<p>

"Huh?" Kirito asked, looking at his personal information. "What's this?"

"What's what?" Asuna asked. The picture back in the auditorium where the IVRTF met was a little choppy, but they could clearly see and hear what was happening despite that. The whole room seemed enthralled by the footage. They were actually seeing through Asuna's eyes, so they could see Kirito clearly there.

"Message from Pegasus Alert System," Kirito read. He opened it up, and his eyes widened. He didn't know what to think. He looked at Asuna, and blinked, shaking his head.

"Kirito, what is it?" Asuna asked again. The whole group was interested.

He read the message aloud. "Look at Asuna… smile for the camera. Say 'Hi' to the… International Virtual Reality Task Force." He looked back at Asuna again, and waved awkwardly. "Hi?"

The rest of the players were at a loss of words. At the same time, the people attending the meeting in the real world were just as amazed at the success of the system.

Another message popped up for Kirito. He read it aloud. "Thank you for participating in our little test. There are a hundred people in the room watching you right now. Some of them are responsible for funding the IVRTF's efforts. Soon we'll be able to watch the game through any of the players' eyes. There is talk about selling select clips of this footage to media companies… for public consumption… But of course, only with the expressed consent of the players being filmed. This will help fund our continued efforts to rescue you. Unfortunately, we are still a long way from getting you out of there. With love, Seijiro."

"Seijiro," Asuna said. She suddenly looked through her inventory and pulled out a mirror she'd collected, holding it up to herself. "Hi! Good to know you actually know what's going on… unlike last time." Then, Asuna got a message. She opened it up, and read. "The Pegasus System is still being tested. We may not always be able to send messages to you inside the game. The same goes for the video feeds. Now, we can chat more about the details later. I have an audience to entertain, so how'bout you introduce us to your friends, and get back to whatever you were doing."

"Wait, so there's a room full of people watching us right now… and they know that our real actual lives are at stake…" Lisbeth said. "That's somewhat disturbing."

"Last time, when I went back home, I had the advantage of no one knowing who I was. But I have to admit, there were times when I wished I could show someone close to me what I'd been through." Kirito sighed. "As long as they won't show anyone the footage without our consent, I'm fine with it, I guess. And as long as you don't end up watching us when we're doing… private things."

"What kind of private things, Kirito?" Silica asked, joking with him.

"The nature of privacy tends to imply that you don't get to know about it," Sampson said. "Now, I believe they asked for introductions." He stood up. "I am Sampson."

"And he is as thick-headed as he is thick-muscled," Lisbeth said, cutting in the way, and standing front of Asuna. "I'm a blacksmith and I'm an SAO survivor! I didn't fight with Kirito on the assault squad though, kind of a shame."

"My turn!" Silica said, butting in. "Silica. I wasn't really a high level in SAO, but in this game, I'm keeping up with everyone else!"

Asuna backed away. "Guys, this is kind of getting awkward. Any chance the crowd at the uhh… the IR… VTF could give the camera to someone else?"

Kirito got a message, and read it to himself before nodding. He stood up, and pointed to Asuna. "Asuna, you probably already know here. She was on the assault squad with me when we defeated Heathcliff."

Tex then slid in front of Asuna. "Hey folks, I'm Getchen, but I go by 'Tex' cuz I'm from the state of Texas. Tell mom and dad I miss 'em, oh and my brothers too. Kirito her's been helping me out since I met him, he's a great friend, I know why ya'll like him so much."

Kirito then turned to Mokatso. "That's Mokatso. He's been a huge help, but he doesn't talk much." Mokatso looked up, head still covered, this time by a steel helmet, and waved once. Next, Kirito turned to Agil and Klein. "These two you probably already know, too. They were also there in the assault squad that day."

Klein jumped up. "When I wake up, I want a pizza at my side, ready to be devoured! Meat lover's, and tomatoes!"

Agil waved to the "camera" once Klein was done. "I have a wife and a child in the real world. Please tell them I miss them, and I promise I'll make it back to them in one piece."

Asuna then took the stage. "Oh, also, someone let my mom know that this is completely not holding me back! She doesn't need to take drastic measures and hook me up with some insane future husband again! Don't let her bring anyone strange in my room!"

Kirito was now backing up from the group. He then turned around to see Yuuki, and nearly collapsed. "I'm Yuuki! I'm actually in a medicuboid, and I don't really have a life outside of the game, so this is normal for me."

Kirito stood up. He looked around. "Is that everyone?" he asked. Then, he looked to Sinon. "Sinon, do you have anything to say?"

Sinon shrugged. "I shoot arrows…"

"You forgot me, you idiot!" Leafa said, standing up. "Hi, I'm Kirito's brother in the real world. I helped him save Asuna in Alfheim, and have been gaming with our core group ever since!"

Kirito stretched, and started to move forward. But then got another message. It read "We've taken notice to your red player cursors. We are nervous to ask, but have you been killing players?"

He sighed, and nodded. "Yes," he said. "Unfortunately this world is even worse than the last when it comes to player-killing. Two new major PK'ing guilds have sprouted up: Red-Handed and Death Oath. Red-Handed is very active in this area, and so we've been paying them a lot of visits. And they have us. Mokatso is the leader of a guild called the Black Wardens. They're a PK hunter guild, and they don't believe in taking prisoners. Since they've been helping us, that policy has applied to us by extension. I'm not happy about it, but with some of these guys, it's really kill or be killed. We don't have much of a choice… Take that to heart. There are a lot more dedicated PK'ers now. The sooner you end this thing, the better."

Mokatso went ahead of Kirito, and the rest of the group followed. "Enough chit-chat," Asuna said as she passed. "You guys want to see us fight monsters and stuff, right? We're clearing a dungeon right now. Should make for a good show!"

As it turned out, they were almost finished with it. The boss was in the next room, and the group was well rested and ready to fight. Normally, they would have more players with them, but Mokatso insisted on just them going in.

The door opened, and the group went in, weapons drawn. As promised, they'd had an upgrade. Kirito now wielded a steel long sword, though he did not yet have dual wielding. He wore mostly leather armor, but had on chain mail beneath his vest. Keeping up with appearances, he wore his black cape.

Klein had a steel katana, and heavy leather armor, the true samurai set up he'd wanted for a while. Agil had a large, two-handed steel hammer, and wore a full set of plate. Lisbeth similarly wore full plate gear, but had a short sword and a small shield.

Asuna wore heavier armor now. She had on a set of steel plate, and wielded a steel spear. She also had a steel shield and a steel long sword strapped to her back, over her red and white cape. Sampson wore only minimal leather armor, relying on a hefty axe as usual. It had gotten an upgrade like everyone else's weapons. It was now forged with steel.

Tex and Sinon were nearly identical. They had on light armor, and used identical, high-quality bows. They each also had quivers of arrows strapped to their backs, all steel-tipped. Silica had on cloth armor, as she relied on stealth more than others.

Leafa wore a green robe, and wielded a staff of ivory, decorated with gold. Yuuki had on leather armor, and wielded a steel rapier.

Mokatso was covered nearly head to toe with steel armor, and around it wore a black cloak. The special weapon, of course, was there, worn like a shield on the right arm.

After all players entered the room, the boss got up from the floor. It was a skeletal monster that had previously been a pile of bones and weapons. When it formed, it was over twenty feet in height, and wielded a large wooden buckler, and a huge steel hammer. The players rushed forward into battle, and could only emerge victorious.

* * *

><p>More than two weeks later, the group was resting in Fir'Spruce. It was a fort of a town, complete with wooden walls and guard towers, and had a small but active local defense. The group stayed in the top floor of a large inn. Tex was sitting on the railing that lined a balcony area outside of her room. Sampson came in, and greeted her.<p>

"I don't want to talk right now," she said. She was sad, and looked away from the large player.

"You really don't need to be embarrassed about it. You're making this a much bigger deal in your head than it really is."

* * *

><p>Just the night before, it was Tex and Kirito out training in the forest. The monsters were a little weaker for Kirito, but at level for Tex. Everyone else was off doing their own training, but since he was the highest level in the party, he volunteered to help Tex, who was the lowest level at the time.<p>

"There," Kirito said. He pointed his blade towards a monster in the distance. It was an ogre, an ugly brute wielding a large club. "You should be able to take that one."

Tex nodded, and readied an arrow. She loosed it, and hit the ogre on the side. It didn't seem much phased even though it took thirty percent of its hit points in damage. It charged at her, and she started to panic, turning to flee.

Kirito stopped her, and turned her around. "You've got more time to shoot, Tex!"

She took a deep breath, and nodded, loosing another arrow. It missed. She was about to flee again, but Kirito told her calm down, and take a deep breath.

This time, she hit the ogre in one of its eyes, and it stumbled, falling to the side. Tex smiled. "It's not over!" Kirito said.

The ogre got up, and made another charge, ready to swing its club. Tex fired one more arrow, this one hitting it in the chest. The monster fell down before her, sliding in and stopping a few feet in front of her. She then started cheering for herself.

She turned, and wrapped Kirito in a hug, before kissing him on the lips. Suddenly, she stopped, her excitement vanishing and she pulled back, flushed. Kirito had a blank look on his face. "I'm sorry," she said. "I-I just got excited and… it just happened."

Kirito shook his head. "Ehh, don't worry about it, just forget it happened, okay?"

Tex nodded slowly, still embarrassed.

* * *

><p>"I just… it's not that." Tex looked over to Sampson as he came over to her. "After nearly five months here. It's hard. And I just sort of haven't really felt connected very strongly to anyone lately."<p>

Sampson sat next to her. "You were there when we got those messages. They're going to save us eventually. We just have to hold on, and survive until they do."

"And then what?" Tex said. "Go back to our normal lives after all of this?"

"It won't be easy, no."

"That's an understatement."

* * *

><p>Before the dungeon, Tex was with the rest of the group, hunting members of the guild, Red-Handed. As a ranger, she was in the back, near Sinon. But they were ambushed. Sinon was busy firing an arrow at a different target when one of the killers came up on her. Tex saw it, and quickly re-adjusted her shot, shooting the player at close range, right through the head. Afterwards, she gasped, and dropped her weapons to hold her hands to her mouth.<p>

* * *

><p>"Sampson. We've killed people."<p>

"We've killed monsters," Sampson said. He put a hand on her back, and pulled her into a hug. "No, things won't ever be the same once we get back. Kirito and the others have told us before about their stories. But they're still here. They've been strong."

"I'm not strong, Sampson. Not like you or Kirito."

"Look," he said, pointing out into the distance. "The sun's setting."

The two of them looked off over the horizon, past the wall and down the hill, into the desert which was visible from the balcony. As it set, an array of colors shot over the horizon.

"Is it anything like Texas?"

"No," she said. "Texas was real. This is all just a fake world. There's no sun. There's no stars. It's all just pictures and pretend. The only thing real here is death. It's a miserable world." She sniffled, and leaned against him.

"Well then I'll have to visit you in the real world. I'll get Sinon to come to. She already told you she wants to go hunting with you once we get back to the real world."

"Right." Tex wiped her eyes. "Once we get back. Can I tell you a secret?"

"Of course."

"When I kissed him… I don't know, I guess I kind of did feel something. Or maybe before. He took me into the group. I was the first player that wasn't already his friend. It made me feel good… and not just him, but everyone. I… I developed feelings."

"It happens," Sampson said. "Like with Lisbeth. But we always have the choice of how we act on our feelings. Can I tell you a secret?"

"Yeah."

"I don't respond to Lisbeth because I don't know how. I've never had a relationship. I've barely had friends."

"Why?"

"When I was young, my father told me once 'son, I don't care what you do in life, only that you strive to do your best at it.' It's something that's stuck with me forever. Ever since then, I focused on everything I did, and practiced it all the time. I still take taekwondo, and if I run out of belts there, I'll find another martial arts to study. I enjoyed books from a young age, and so I strived to learn everything I could about them, and even went to a renowned university in the US to study them. I had to learn English to do that, and to read more books. I didn't stop once I mastered English, I learned other languages. Japanese, Swedish, German, Latin… I'm still learning most of those. But never once did I stop my studying and my learning to focus on other people. I never made friends, and I grew up with little social life."

Tex listened to him, and nodded when he was finished. "I really miss my family."

"I do to."

"I promise I won't tell anyone that you actually do like Liz," she said. "But only if you promise me something back."

"What's that?"

"You tell her."

Sampson paused, and thought deeply for a moment. "Deal," he said with a smile.

She smiled back at him.

* * *

><p>In the real world, The IVRTF declared Sampson, Tex and Mokatso VIPs. Though they didn't transfer them to secure facilities, they did what they could to secure their current hospital suites. More importantly though, that meant that their families were able to see live footage before other players' families.<p>

In Texas, Gretchen's family all went to that room as they were about to start up the feed.

* * *

><p>"Thanks, Sampson," she said.<p>

Sampson got up, and started to leave. "Dinner is soon," he said. "Asuna is making tiger steak."

"Sounds delicious! I'll be down soon…" She had whispered something then, but Sampson didn't hear it.

Before Sampson left, he turned around. But she was gone. He rushed back to look over the balcony. "Tex!" he shouted for her. She had fallen to the ground, head first. There were screams, and people rushed to her aide. It was too late, though.

Sampson collapsed on the balcony, sitting down and leaning on the rails. He couldn't hear anything despite the commotion. He only saw the door bust open shortly after. Asuna had entered the room to see him crying.

Kirito would gather up his party afterwards, and for the next fifteen days, they searched frantically for one of the fabled resurrection items that Laughing Coffin had mentioned on the first day. They struggled, and after fruitless efforts, returned empty-handed on the eve of the fifteenth day.

* * *

><p>In Texas, rolling hills and small towns made way for vast rural country. Deserts and plains were all left open, and nothing but dirt roads marked the ways to the greatest scenery in the land. Day and night, tourists come and go, true adventurers and locals enjoy the landscape. At night all of the stars shine on the land, and aren't hindered by artificial light.<p>

Down a dirt road, where the sand is real, there is a field in the scrubland. There is nothing particularly interesting here, but once every Sunday, a jeep pulls up and three men get out just before sundown. They practice shooting beer bottles after spending time hunting. Today, they have more bottles to shoot at, and less trophies to bring home.

Today they parked under a tree and just next to it they laid the skull of a bear. Next to a rock, and on the rock is carved "In Loving Memory. We miss you Gretchen. 2013-2028." The sun sets, and they sit and watch the night sky. Up there, the universe would be endless, but instead of that, the rain came in and washed the moment away. And when it rains in Texas, it pours.

So tonight, tourists stayed in inside. Locals sat on their porches, and many just went to bed. Except a man in a house. He sat in a room. On the dresser there were bottles and bottles of prescription medication. Pristiq. Prozac. And many more. A computer sat, collecting dust, not turned on in months. Clothes, clean and dirty, covered the floor. And the bed was left, unmade.

That's where he sat. On the bed. A strong man looking to be in his forties now. He held onto a hat, gripping it tight as a tear fell from his face to the cowhide.


	8. Chapter 8: Mokatso

"Raid party on the horizon! Sound the bells! Raid party incoming! Fir'Spruce is under attack!" All around the town in the woods, bells started to sound. Alarms woke the town from its slumber, and within just a couple minutes, town guards had weapons and armor equipped.

Kirito was groggy. It was just one day after the fifteen days of searching for nothing, and the trip had taken a toll on him. He wasn't the only one. Many of his party went with him.

Asuna was quick to get up and equip her best gear, though. She pulled Kirito to his feet, and he shook his head, waking up. Him and his party left the inn, and went out towards the northern gate, which had been closed.

Mokatso was already there. Another one of the Black Wardens was talking with the captain of the guard. The warden caught a glance of Kirito, and headed over to speak with him. As per the usual, their voices were muffled by thick armor, which covered them from head to toe. "Kirito," the voice said. "Glad you're awake. The guard counted fifty in the raid party. We have more, but the battle could prove tough. As far as we can tell they have no way of breaking through our walls."

Kirito nodded, and looked back to his group. "Doesn't look like we're in much trouble."

"Incoming!" someone shouted from a guard tower. Players dove off in a panic as a large fireball smashed into the top of the tower, exploding on impact and sending burning embers and wooden wreckage flying all around. It lit up the night sky. Two more players emerged from the tower as it smoldered, both on fire and health dropping fast.

"Magic," Asuna said.

"It's not arcana," Leafa said. "Arcane magic can't create elemental attacks like fireballs."

"More incoming!"

Players began to scramble on the streets, as more fireballs started to fall onto the town. One was headed right for the group. Leafa reacted quickly, conjuring a magical barrier that broke the impact and explosive force of the fireball.

"They'll tear the city apart if we don't go out and fight them!" Kirito said. "Everyone, mount up! Open the gates!"

Mokatso climbed up on top of the wall before the gates even opened, and jumped down the other side. Once the wooden gates did open, Kirito and his group, and several others including wardens and guards, all rode out to meet their enemy on the field of battle.

Despite their attack, more fire rained down on the town. When those who rode in the town's defense met the enemy in the field, the leader of this opposing faction held up his right hand. It was tattooed red. The rest of his raid party stopped firing, and did the same, exposing tainted red right hands.

"You've killed off a whole lot of us in the last two months," the raid leader said. "This town and its allies, the Black Wardens. Our leader has decided to wipe this nuisance of a fortress off the map, and repay blood with blood. Surrender now, and we will let you all live."

"As slaves for your guild, I imagine?" Kirito said back, weapon still drawn. "I think we'll pass."

The raid leader laughed. "The warrior in black, Kirito. Nice to finally see you in-person, along with the rest of your group. Now where is that coward, Mokatso?"

"We outnumber you three-to-one," Kirito said. "It's you who should be surrendering to us!"

"You may have your numbers, but my flame sorcerers will make quick work of your town and all of the non-combatants in it before you can get to them. And when they're done leveling Fir'Spruce, they'll turn their fireballs on you."

Mokatso had stayed hidden, and snuck up to the rear flanks of the raid. She gutted one of the casters, and then went onto attack another. Two were dead before any of the guild to react.

"Looks like that's our cue," Kirito said. He thrust his sword forward, and led the charge. He went straight for the leader, and engaged him in combat.

The raid leader wielded a shield and short sword. At Kirito's first swing, he knocked the weapon away with his shield, and then slashed at Kirito with his weapon. Kirito was much too quick though, and had his sword moved back to block the attack, and after that was already moving out of the way, around the leader to hit him again.

Before Kirito got the blow in, another raider blocked the strike, and pulled Kirito's attention away while the raid leader moved onto different, less skilled guardsmen.

The fight only ensued for a few moments before the leader called a retreat of his forces, and the town defender's chased them away.

The defenders rushed back into the town to help put out the fires. Once the dust settled, they counted a total of eighty-two killed. The following day, a town meeting was held.

"Flame sorcery," the captain of the guard said. "That's a new one to us. Looks like our walls won't be able to keep us safe anymore."

"We can switch to using more stone construction, and fortify the existing walls with stone and iron," someone said.

"That's a start, but the problem still remains." The pressed his right hand into a bowl of cherries, and then smacked the board behind him. "Red-handed. No matter how much we build our defenses, they'll still be there. And they've got a hard on for killing our people. We need to launch a large-scale counter-attack. They want to pay blood with blood, we'll give that to them and more."

"We don't know where their headquarters is," Kirito spoke up. "Even if we did, this is the largest PK guild we've seen. We've already killed a few dozen of them, and they still have enough to muster up large raid forces to come attack us. We need intelligence."

"No, actually, we don't. We already know where the headquarters is, and we've known for a while now."

"Where?" Asuna asked.

The captain pulled out a map of the region. A lot of it was explored, and the town of Fir'Spruce was outlined. He pointed to an area yet to be explored. "There."

"That's not very specific," Kirito said.

"Every time we send scouting parties within five miles of this spot, we never see or hear from them again. I'll bet you everything that if we send a raid party into that dark territory, we'll find their base."

"That's still not enough information," Asuna said. "In order to attack their home base, we need to know how many there are, what kind of structures they have, their defenses. We know from last night that they have the capability to lay siege to a fortified town."

"It would be wise not to attack them all out unless we had the same capabilities," Agil said.

"Do we have any siege weapons?" Sampson asked.

The captain shook his head. "No," he said. He leaned against the podium at the front of the assembly hall, looking aggravated.

"At the very least," another player said. "We should send in more scouts, spies even, to try and determine what defenses they have."

"We've been trying, but they kill or capture every single one we send in. If we send more scouts into that area, we'll have to send our very best. But it's risky, and losing our best could be the difference between victory and defeat the next time Red-Handed attacks our town. I won't send any more of my guard in."

"What about the wardens?"

Mokatso's hood shook. Another warden spoke, voice still muffled. "There are not many of us, and we believe it too dangerous at this time."

"I will go," Sinon said, stepping forward. Everyone looked to her. "I am a master sniper, and my stealth and perception abilities are over three hundred."

"I'll join you!" Silica stepped forward next. "I have some pretty decent stealth myself."

"Then I will also join," Asuna said. "And so will Kirito."

Kirito blinked. "Asuna, are you sure? I can't know for certain that I can keep you safe."

Asuna smiled back at him, and leaned into him to kiss at his cheek. "We'll be fine."

"Well be off, then!" the captains said. "And return quickly so that we can plan our assault."

"Kirito," Mokatso said while walking towards the front door. "My advice. Don't go. It's a suicide mission."

"No going back now," he said. "We'll get out alive though. We always do."

* * *

><p>Later in the afternoon, the team of four headed out on horseback to the north, into the unexplored territory where they expected to find Red-Handed's guild headquarters. After a few hours of travel, they dismounted, to help in their stealth.<p>

While they were in the forest, Asuna let Sinon and Silica take the lead, and while they were ahead, she pulled Kirito to the side. "Kirito," she said. "I need to tell you something…"

Kirito stopped, and whispered back to her. "What is it?"

Asuna took a deep breath, and then another. "This… it's kind of difficult, and I didn't tell you yet because I didn't want you to worry, but…"

Kirito looked at her, and she looked away. She gritted her teeth. It was hard for her to spit out. "Asuna, you're fine. You can tell me."

"Promise me you won't freak out or anything," she said.

Kirito nodded, and smiled sincerely. "I promise, Asuna. There's nothing you can say that would freak me out right now."

"Good," she said. She leaned in close to him, and whispered into his ear. "I'm pregnant."

Kirito froze up. As he processed those words, he shook his head. "What?"

"It was only suspicions for the longest time," she said. "But when we started getting Pegasus messages, I got confirmation. I didn't know how to tell you, or even if I should, but…"

"Kirito, Asuna," Sinon said, looking back in their direction. "We should stay together."

Asuna nodded, and left Kirito's side to catch up. Kirito followed quickly. "How long?" he asked.

"Well, assuming it was just the last time, that makes it, what, just over five months, now?" They still whispered to one another, not wanting Sinon and Silica to find out.

"I wish you told me sooner. I wouldn't have let you come with us."

"That's why I didn't tell you. Sorry, but… I don't need you to be looking out for me twenty-four-seven. I can look out for myself, you know."

"Yeah but… something like this. This is dangerous."

"Quiet," Sinon said, dropping into a crouch and drawing a bow. Asuna and Kirito shut up, and crouched as well, Silica was crawling ahead. She gave a wave to the others.

The group went up to Silica. They looked down a small incline toward what appeared to be a fortified town, even more-so than Fir'Spruce. It also appeared larger.

Down below, there were signs of more than just the PK'er guild, but of others. These were the slaves that Red-Handed had been collecting. They were dressed in simplistic clothes, and some of them were bound in chains. They were doing all of the skiller work in the town, while the guild-members had a laugh at their expense.

"What do we have here?" a voice said. Some of the Red-Handed guild members had snuck up on them. Sinon turned and let her arrow loose immediately. She hit one of the heavily armored grunts right in the eye, and he stumbled back. He was dead, but very close, and screaming in pain.

"You little—" The man's words were broken by Kirito attacking, cutting through holes in the armor to take him out.

"Run!" Kirito said, the two that had found them were incapacitated at the very least. The group took off, running back the way they came. Before long though, riders had gone ahead of them, and before they knew it, they were surrounded.

"Well," one man said. He was the leader of the raid party last night. "If it isn't Kirito and three of his closest friends. I didn't think we'd see you out here… at least not so… alone. I apologize for not giving you a proper introduction last night, so let me make amends." He extended his hand to shake Kirito's. "I am Gorefowl… at least that's what my nameplate says." Kirito didn't respond. "Oh, come on, Kirito. I was hoping we could be friends. Oh well, your loss."

Another man got off of his horse, and as he stepped forward, Gorefowl stepped back. "Kirito. I've heard a lot about you. You've killed three of my lieutenants. I thought for sure Gorefowl would be next on your shopping list."

Kirito and the others remained silent.

"At this point, you really only have two options. You can talk to me, or we can execute you all right here."

"What's there to talk about?" Kirito asked. "This is the part where you take us as slaves, or kill us. We're not too fond of either, so we'll fight back no matter what."

"Oh will you? Don't you want to know my name at least?"

"I can read your name from her, Katsuo."

Katsuo sighed. "Well, so much for greetings. Very well then." The man drew his blade, which was a long sword like Kirito's, only it was stained red. "Why waste my breath, right?" He looked to the various party members, who were each raising weapons. "Men."

The rest of the Red-Handed all seized Kirito and his group. There was some fighting back, but so heavily outnumbered, it was easy for Red-Handed to simply take a few hits in an effort to disarm Asuna, Silica and Sinon. Kirito hadn't even drawn his blade. The rest of his group was being held tight, and struggling.

"Not going to defend yourself?" Katsuo said. "I thought you wanted to fight." He waited for a response, but got none. "So depressing. I had hoped for more from this meeting. Very well. Asuna is your girlfriend, right? I'll start with her." His troops held Asuna tight as she struggled hard. Katsuo raised his sword to strike at her, but Kirito jumped up and knocked the blade away.

"Don't touch her," Kirito said.

"You're not in any position to be making demands, Kirito. Would you like to be?"

"What?"

"The bounty on you and your friends' heads. Kill any of them, and you can be promoted to an officer within our ranks immediately. And we have slaves too, which no other major guild offers. It can be claimed by anyone, even you." Katsuo stepped back. "You would sacrifice one of your friends to save your lover, wouldn't you? I know I would…"

Kirito bit his tongue, and shook his head. "You can't ask me to do that. You're insane!"

"So I've been told. There's no other way to save her, now, you must realize that." Katsuo went to strike again, and Kirito went into a full out attack. After he knocked the blade away, he struck, clanging his sword against Katsuo's armor.

The man stumbled, back, and lifted his sword to block the next attack, and the next. His crew did nothing to stop it. Despite Kirito's skill, and even striking Katsuo, he was not worried. "What about when you kill me, Kirito? Will you fight my whole guild at once?"

"If I have to!" Kirito shouted in his furious blows. "I won't let you hurt my friends!" He made a serious blow against Katsuo, cutting through an unarmored part of his body, and dealing more than thirty percent of his health in damage in a single blow.

"Enough!" Katsuo shouted. Members of his guild that weren't already busy came to his aid. They entered the fray, and Kirito struck back against his new attackers. With hardly any effort, he killed two of them before being overwhelmed by numbers, and held in place like his friends. "You've got a lot of fight in you. But this is suicide you know."

"Quit toying with him and finish it, you bastard!" Sinon shouted. "You've already made up your mind. You're going to kill us anyways. So get it over with!"

"Oh my sweet child." Katsuo went over to Sinon. He cupped her chin and brushed her cheek. "Actually, I had a different plan for you… for all of you. Let her go."

His guards threw Sinon to the ground. "Pick up your bow, sweetheart. You're going to need it." Sinon was more than happy to oblige to that request, and drew an arrow, aiming it at Katsuo.

"I won't miss," she said.

"You will if you aim that at me… I'm not your target, Sinon." Sinon loosed the arrow. Katsuo moved quick, and it merely grazed his cheek. Katsuo gave a nod to one of his guards, and he moved behind Sinon as she drew a second arrow, slashing at her calf, and cutting her deep. She cried out and fell to her knee, another arrow shooting way off target. "Sinon," he said. "That is your target." He pointed to Kirito. "My offer has now passed on to you. Kill Kirito, and I will make you a captain. You'll be the finest marksman in our guild, and we will leave the fate of your other friends up to you."

Sinon fired another shot at Katsuo. He turned and chopped the arrow in half with his sword. The guard kicked her back, and stepped on her, holding her into the dirt. "You know it's too easy to dodge your shots when I'm right in front of you. From a distance, or in the chaos of combat, arrows can be deadly. But against a single target looking right at you… you don't stand a chance to hit me. Shall we move on?"

Next he signaled to the guards holding Silica. "Silica. I have to be honest here. You're my least favorite in this group. You know the drill." Silica shook her head, and closed her eyes tight. She didn't even pick up her weapon.

"Asuna? How'bout you?" Katsuo laughed as the guards let her go. "Will you kill your party members for a chance to live?" She didn't answer.

"You're all quite the stubborn bunch. Kirito," he said. "Here's my final offer." Katsuo went over to him, and put Kirito's sword in his hand while the guards still held him. "If none of you wants the free shot at the rank of captain, at least give one of my guards a chance. Fight them… one on one, until you die. I swear I won't kill your friends if you do. They will be slaves, yes, but I will see to it that they are protected until the end of the game, if that time ever comes."

"One on one?" Kirito asked. "You're going to send every one of them to their death fighting me. Why?"

"Point taken. Men. New plan. Let's have a free for all instead. The one who brings me Kirito's head gets to take Gorefowl's position."

"K-katsuo?" Gorefowl said.

"What?" Katsuo said. "You're being demoted as of now anyways, for your failure to take Fir'Spruce. You better get in there if you want to keep your job."

The guards let Kirito go, and he stood up, ready to fight that moment. The first soldier attacked him. He moved out of the way, and slashed the man as he went by. The next to charge was greeted with Kirito's sword—plunged into his chest.

Then three attacked at once. Kirto dodged their blows, and their swords hit each other. After that, Kirito hamstringed one of them, and lopped another's head off. The third tried to hit Kirito, but failed, as Kirito parried the attack, and disarmed the sword.

After that, the spearmen went in. One thrust in and hit Kirito's side. He fell to the ground, and before he could get up, Gorefowl himself was attacking. He blocked the incoming attacks, and then moved to the side. Behind him, another soldier was swinging wide with a claymore. Kirito ducked out of Gorefowl's charge, and the man ran right into the claymore, getting killed.

The fight went on, but without much effort, Kirito had the other players all beaten. At the very least they were incapacitated. There were another six guards, but they didn't want to rush to their deaths fighting the swordsman.

"That all you got?" Kirito asked. Suddenly, Kirito's legs were trapped in earth. He couldn't move, and the remaining six all attacked him. He parried as much as he could, but it was difficult. At a point, he fell backwards, bending awkwardly at the knees and hitting his head on the ground. One guard come with his axe, aiming for Kirito's neck.

He rolled partially to the side, dodging the attack, only barely. Then a sword came down to him. Kirito thrust his own blade upwards, killing his attacker. The axeman struck again, and Kirito hooked his blade on the head of the weapon, both dodging the attack, and using it to pull himself back up.

As he fought on, he noticed that the earth was moving up his body, holding him more and more stiff in place. He looked to his left to see a caster holding out his hands. The hands of the caster glowed green as the rock continued to climb, encasing him.

A man with a large hammer swung at him, and he deflected the attack downward, to break himself from the rock. He took damage, but was now free. He kept moving now, worrying about the melee attackers, and slashing and parrying at them until they were all down.

It was too little, though. That same caster had gotten another spell up, and Kirito's legs were trapped again. One of the downed guards got up, groaning, and took the opportunity to attack Kirito. Kirito was just too good for him, and deflected the attack, just before landing the finishing blow.

Finally, the caster came up, his spell still going. The earth climbed up Kirito's body, and soon enough, he couldn't turn from side to side. He could feel though that the farther the rock encased him, the weaker it seemed to become. When the caster got close enough, he put all of his strength into a single swing, killing the spell caster as he broke free of the rock.

Kirito then held his blade to Katsuo. "Shall we dance?"

Katsuo held up his hands. They glowed green, and with quick motions, stone arms emerged from the ground, and grabbed Kirito's arms. In the next movement, Kirito was pulled to a kneeling position, his arms stuck to the ground and his sword too far away to pick up.

"It's not fair!" Kirito shouted. "Every magic I've seen, you have to speak to cast it! Even a friend who used arcane magic said she couldn't control the elements!"

"It's not arcane magic," Katsuo said. "It's sorcery. Faster to use, but harder to learn. Now it looks like I must finish this myself." He was facing the guards that were still holding down Kirito's group. They started to look scared, and each held blades up to their prisoners' throats. "I'll start with you, and then kill your sniper, and then Silica. But when I get to Asuna, I'm going to have my fun. She'll be mine, and I'll make her wish she were dead!"

Sinon looked up from the ground. She heard a voice, and could almost make it out. It was not in any real language though. Within an instant, everyone there was knocked back and down, and Kirito was free. The group didn't know what happened, but they all picked up their weapons and moved to the attack.

Katsuo was the first to get up. "Guardsmen!" he shouted. "More soldiers, on the double!" The beats of hooves sounded off in the direction of the Red-Handed headquarters, and more of their guild started to charge in to the rescue.

As the other guards that previously held Kirito's group hostage began to get up, and large, whirling discus shot through and made quick work of two of them before bouncing off into the dirt. It was Mokatso's weapon. Behind her was Leafa, who was already working on the next spell, a party heal for the four who'd been wounded.

"You need to be more careful," Leafa shouted. "Mount up, we're getting out of here!" Holding no objections, the four of them got on horseback, and started to flee."

Mokatso jumped into combat though. That bladed weapon was back in the right hands, and in the right hands, it was deadly. It spun and moved about, and like with everyone else, no one could predict its attack patterns.

Mokatso began to run, but didn't have the time to mount up between blocking shots and attacking those who pursued. Soon the warden had been surrounded. Katsuo used his magic to bind his enemy, the same he did Kirito.

"The rest of you, after Kirito and his friends! I will deal with this one myself."

"Wait!" Mokatso shouted. "Call off the hunt, let them go and I will go with you willingly."

Katsuo blinked, and looked at the warden. "You have nothing to offer me. I will enjoy killing you more than anything else you could possibly give me!"

Mokatso sighed. The warden's held hanged low, and twisted about, and then, the helmet fell off. Then, she looked up. Her long, black hair fell down, and with her fair-skinned face, she looked up at Katsuo. "You want a slave, right? I'm yours. Just let them go. If not, you will have to kill me."

Katsuo blinked again. He laughed at her, and clapped his hands. "I never would have expected this. Mokatso is a girl. Now maybe I am interested." He picked up her helmet and looked inside of it. "And this… this is wonderful. Do all of your wardens have these?" He broke off the face mask, and showed the back side of it to his gang. "It's enchanted… disguising the wearer's voice. With this, we'll never know one warden from the other unless we see their face, or in Mokatso's case, his… I mean, her legendary weapon. You." He pointed to one of his riders. "Send a message to the others, tell them to call off the hunt."

"What about their name plates?" one man asked.

"Well, that's only partially true." He pointed above the warden's head. "See here… Michiko. That's her real in-game name. The masking of the voice along with some disguise and other stealth skills gives a player the ability to change the appearance of their name. Really fancy stuff. I've only seen this used by Death Oath."

"So we have a deal?" Michiko asked.

Katsuo knelt down in front of her, and smiled. He extended his right hand, and unbound her own. "We have a deal." Michiko shook his hand. "Before I let your left hand free, I'll be taking all of your items. Starting with your weapon."

Michiko did as she was told, and opened the trade window. Items could only be sent over so many at a time, so it took several trades. After a few minutes, she was left with nothing but her clothes.

Katsuo looked at her. "I said everything, didn't I, sweetheart?" His group laughed, and she flushed. She knew what she was getting into though, and so she begrudgingly completed the transfer, left nude as she sat there.

"Good," Katsuo said. "I'll give them back in a second. After seeing your helmet, I'm wary that even your underwear will be laced with some kind of magical trap or hide some weapon with which you will surely kill me the first chance you get. I'm halfway tempted to do a cavity search… and I probably will have such ordered before we do anything really fun."

Katsuo dispersed the items to his crew. "Check them all. Make sure you search everything thoroughly." He turned back to Michiko. "Take it as a compliment. You're so crafty, and cunning and dangerous to us that we're afraid you'll kill us even though you're clearly stripped of every weapon we can think of. Tell me, you don't have a bomb waiting for us in your stomach, do you?"

Michiko shook her head. She used her arms and hands to cover herself.

"I didn't think so," Katsuo said. "I'll be keeping you in my room though, just in case. That way, even if you manage to kill me, there will still be someone to lead in my stead. And this guild of five-hundred strong would have no trouble securing a resurrection item, I'm sure."

"Five-hundred, huh?" Michiko said. "I counted three-hundred and fifteen. Or did you mean five hundred before you started dropping like flies."

Katsuo glared at her, and then laughed, standing up and clapping again. "Even her tongue is a deadly weapon! I'm sure that will come in handy later.

The Red-Handed riders returned then, and stopped near Katsuo. "We left them alone, as we were told. They will arrive back in Fir'Spruce by sunset."

"It's fine," Katsuo said. "We have ourselves a hostage. If they come for us, we'll use her as a shield. Guards, did you find anything in her gear?"

"Yes," one man said. "What's the strangest thing though is that she doesn't have anything leading back to the Black Wardens. No maps, information, anything. Just what you'd typically find on an adventurer… Sir, I think she may have even planned on being captured here."

Katsuo looked down at Michiko. "What are you planning? If you're done, give her her clothes back, bind her hands with rope and tie her to a horse. We should head back before the army finds us out here." As he mounted up, and started to move away, he continued giving orders. "Send out a guild alert. Call all of our members back to home base. I have a feeling we should prepare ourselves for an assault."

* * *

><p>"Should we turn off the recording, sir?" In an IVRTF base in Japan, several monitors displayed footage from within the game. The main monitor was focused on Michiko, from the viewpoint of Katsuo.<p>

"No," Kikuoka Seijiro. "We won't be giving any of this footage to the public, or even the family, but we need to keep watching in case something important happens. Now that we know why we couldn't pin point Mokatso, we can focus on her alone. Set it up in a smaller monitor and a private room to keep it out of general view."

"Sir," An agent came up to Seijiro. "You've been summoned to the board via virtual conference."

Seijiro left the observation room and went into a private room, where he was on camera before the board at the IVRTF headquarters in Tokyo. "What's new?"

"We were just discussing some… troubling information that has come to light about player deaths," the director said. "Doctor, explain."

There was a man in a white coat, and he was going through papers, which were scattered all over the desk. "Before, we believed that when players' brainwaves were disappearing, that was when they had died in the game, and that is still true, but… a new variable has emerged. We now know that players within the game can be brought back to life if done within fifteen days. During that time, we can even still see footage coming from a player's ghost."

"What are you saying?"

"It seems that before… when we made assumptions about player death, we were disconnecting players before this fifteen day period had passed, without knowing about the resurrection mechanic. Players' ghosts appear to be both conscious and active, the same as they were in life."

"But then why would their brainwaves disappear in the real world?" Seijiro asked.

"We don't know. But theoretically, and this was previously all just theory and conjecture until recently, it is possible to store the entirety of human consciousness as data."

"The problem is," another man from the board spoke. "…that even if that were possible, the amount of memory needed to store an entire brain… a lifetime of memories, the finite tuning of emotions and reflexes and all of the complexities of human consciousness would take a tremendous amount of storage. More than anyone in the world has access to. What we've determined is that there are three possibilities: one, that Laughing Coffin has a tremendous data warehouse somewhere that we don't know about. Two, that they are taking advantage of a new programming method, or perhaps a new data storage technology that allows the human consciousness to be stored in much less space than previously thought—"

"Or three," Donald Zimmar said. "That there really is no resurrection mechanic, and LC only put it into the game to taunt us and the players."

"That one we unfortunately see as the more likely," the director spoke up. "Especially considering we have had no way of knowing about it before seeing inside the game ourselves. So if we never got into that footage, the resurrection mechanic wouldn't have even mattered, because players' would have no bodies for the consciousness to return to."

"We need to consider the negative possibilities though," another member spoke up. "Seijiro, this is why we contacted you, because this is something that could change the way we need to think about fighting the Laughing Coffin. There is a chance that LC knows we are recording players… not only that, but they might have been counting on it. And if they anticipated this… then that means we're not as far ahead of them as we thought, and we could be playing right into their hands if we're not careful. We need you to keep a watchful eye for everything anyone in the LC says or does. As you know, we can only access the footage of players that we can physically interact with in the real world, because the recording device needs to be in range of the AmuSphere. We don't have access to any LC members, so we are counting on our agents within the game to infiltrate their guild and collect information."

"We also need to assume that if LC knows about our messaging system and our recordings, that they can sever access to those at any time."

"There was something else we noticed in the death footage. One of the few that we have. We need you to get a team together and observe and analyze the ending of the ghost footage from Gretchen…"

"Tex?" Seijiro asked.

"Yes. The… the recordings as you imagine are disheartening, and we've been avoiding watching it for a while. Not to mention there was fifteen whole days to go through. What is most disturbing is what happens in the last two minutes, though."

"Alright," Seijiro said. "I'll look into it."


	9. Chapter 9: Michiko

Michiko had been given thin, silk fabrics to wear in her service to Katsuo and the Red-Handed. They could hardly be called clothes, barely covering her body. The first days, she though, would be the hardest. The first three days she had to adapt to Katsuo's… personality flaws, and adjust to a new mode of life, one of giving into demands and doing as she was told. It was quite a shock to the system, to go from guild leader to slave girl.

Katsuo was not kind, either. Every day, he would not only use her in the most disgusting ways, but would also bring her out into the grounds, and make her watch how the guild treated the slaves. She hated to admit it, but she might have actually been treated better than most.

The conditions for slaves throughout history have never been spoken highly of, but Red-Handed seemed to really enjoy putting the lessons of the past into good practice. Their slaves were not just slaves. They were all prospects. They worked them, and tortured them, and committed cruel jokes against them to break their minds as well as their bodies.

And every day, they were offered an escape. They could end their suffering and join the Red-Handed. They would still be expected to follow orders, and it was an ongoing process, but they would no longer be treated as slaves. Michiko had witnessed this in several stages just after three days.

Those who wished to rise from slavery and into the guild's ranks had to perform cruel acts themselves. They were made to beat, and rape, or even kill other slaves, and other captives. And it was never random. The guild always watched, and made them do these things to those that they seemed closest too.

One scene, Michiko swore she would never forget. She swore to remember that moment when she took off Katsuo's head.

While being made to watch the cruelties, one slave threw his hands up into the air, and fell to his knees. "I give up!" he shouted. "I can't go on. I'll do anything!" His voice was weak, and broken.

Michiko had seen this same man her first day, talking with another slave, an older woman. They seemed to be friends, but she couldn't make much out of the conversation.

A guild member and slave driver came to him, and dropped in front of him the tool of his supposed freedom. It was a sharp, steel blade, and on it, was written a name. It was the same name as the older woman.

Though he hesitated, this man went up to her, and cut her down. He didn't kill her, but he brought her close to it. The guild members congratulated him, and pulled him away at the last second.

She had thought that now that she'd witnessed how this guild works, and was used to everything, it would get easier. But she was wrong.

On the fourth day, Katsuo brought another young woman to his chambers. Her name was Xaela. This girl was no more than eighteen years of age, and stood of average height and average weight. She had shoulder length, blond hair, and the clothes she was given were identical to the ones Michiko had worn.

From conversation, Michiko had learned a great deal about her, and her story. Xaela spoke of a group she was with, including a romantic interest. Red-Handed had found them, and killed them all, except for her. She was spared and taken because Katsuo thought she looked pretty.

Katsuo was a sadistic man. When Xaela was captured, she had witnessed him collect the blood of her fallen comrades into jars, and took them with him. Michiko thought that she'd now seen the worse, but then she learned the true extent of human depravity.

In more or less words, the blood collected was used by Katsuo. Used to taunt and torture Xaela when he played with her.

Red-Handed, Michiko thought, were the worst human beings on the planet. The absolute worst. It was in one of those sessions with Xaela that she decided that none of them could be left alive. No matter if they began as slaves or picked up the sword on their own. Red-Handed had to be hunted down to the ends of Vearth, and if the game ended, then hunted to the ends of Earth as well.

One day, Xaela returned to Katsuo's chambers, but wearing the blood-stained steel armor attributed to the guild, and with a hand that had been painted red. Michiko wondered what it was that Xaela must have been made to do. The wondering was short though.

Xaela attacked her, thrusting her with a dagger repeatedly. Like the slave she had seen nearly killed on the third day, she was left barely hanging onto her life. Despite the strange, mutual bond that Michiko felt she had formed with Xaela, there she was, lying in a pool of blood after the same woman had delivered a world of pain and suffering to her.

As time went on, Michiko began to wonder to herself: how long? How long would it be before she was broken? Before she would drop to her knees and beg Katsuo for mercy. Who would she have to kill… who would she have to hurt for her place in the guild?

Every time Katsuo was with her, he was rougher. Every time, he hurt her more, and soon started cutting her, and choking her. By the end of two weeks, every time he touched her, she was taken just to the brink of death.

Katsuo too had begun to wonder the same questions. "How long are you going to do this, Michiko?" he asked her once. She did not respond, but merely laid on the floor, her body in pain. "I've hurt you… I've nearly killed you… and yet you remain stalwart. You have this… strange sense of righteousness. Or maybe you're just stubborn."

He moved over to her, and took her hand. In it, he placed a steel dagger. "Come on, girl. All it will take is just one moment where I can see you truly broken. Who will it be? Who would you break for? Kirito? … No? Asuna? … Come on!"

Before anything else happened, Xaela charged into the room. "Commander General, sir! Laughing Coffin is attacking! We need you." Without thinking, Katsuo got up and equipped his best gear. He left the room.

Michiko held the dagger up, and stared at it. She saw a reflection of herself in it—her bruised and blooded face. She thought about ending it there, but instead, she opened her player inventory, and put the knife away.

"Kirito," she whispered. "Where are you?"

* * *

><p>Where exactly Kirito was was getting ready. His group had left Fir'Spruce, and rode far out east. They went to other towns, recruiting heroes to rally to him. The time was near. An army was slowly forming to march on Red-Handed.<p>

His group had even made it as far back as Eastown, where they met their most important allies in the battle to come. Eastown was now heavily fortified. It was a base on the edge of the forest, and it acted as a command center for just about every Protectors Guild mission to the east.

Kirito came to this town with a fraction of his force. The towns he had visited had all sent their soldiers to Fir'Spruce. There, a rider with a half a troop of cavalry rode up to meet him. They wore white and blue, and unlike before, their armor was now steel.

"Kirito!" the leader of the group said. The party stopped before them, and the man hopped off of his horse. He wore no helmet, and his name was Eulsam. "I thought I'd never see you around here again."

"And I thought I'd never want to talk to you again. But… desperate times and all," he said back.

"Desperate times? What brings you back to our neck of the woods?"

"A friend of mine… a party member has been captured by the player-killer guild, Red-Handed," Kirito explained. "Some of us owe him our lives. The Black Warden guild leader, Mokatso."

"Mokatso?" Eulsam said. "The vigilante guild leader from the east. I've heard of him. When Red-Handed seemed to disappear from the rest of the world, we knew something was up, but we weren't sure what. I recalled all of our troops back to the Kingdom of Newberg in case of an impending attack. When nothing came, things were even more suspicious. Spies and scouts were sent out all over the world, but returned very little information thus far."

"Yes," Kirito said. "You see, we located their headquarters. They have an army, and a heavily fortified base to the far south-east. The closest town to it is called Fir'Spruce, and has been a defensive base camp against Red-Handed for a while now. We've rode across the land, telling those willing to engage in this battle to head there. We're building an army."

Eulsam laughed. "An army you say? Well then, you've come to the right place. VPG can send a hundred soldiers that way tomorrow, and I will lead the charge on our enemies."

"Glad you could help," Kirito said. "Last time we talked, you didn't seem as friendly."

"I haven't changed, Kirito. You have. Look at you, looking for help, building up armies. You would make a good commander in the VPG."

"I don't think he's interested," Asuna said from the back. "We still tend to work with just our core group."

"Well then you wouldn't mind if I led the assault, would you? I've been waiting and planning for a time like this. And I have more experience commanding large groups of players. What say you, Kirito? Will you and your group serve under my command, at least for just this one battle?"

"I can't say for certain that we'll be following your orders, but we'll definitely consider your experience in the field when we're in combat."

"Eulsam," Asuna said. "There's something you should know about Red-Handed that we're not sure if you already do or not."

"What's that?"

"We scouted out their base of operations. They have slaves," Asuna said.

"Slaves?" That bit of information was new to him. "I had heard rumors, but I didn't really think it was true. What do you mean by slaves, exactly? Are we talking… hostages or—"

"It's bad," Kirito said. "Forced labor, whips, chains, you name it. They are a lot worse than we previously thought. They're unlike your run of the mill PK guild."

"What I can't wrap my head around is how they've gotten so many other players on board with that system," Sinon spoke up. "They've got just as many people in their guild as they do working under them."

"And as we've been fighting them, they're numbers seem to just continue to grow," Kirito said. "We would take out one of their smaller bases, only to have two more rise up in its place."

"Then that makes this a decisive battle against the Red-Handed," Eulsam said. "Men!" He turned and shouted back to his cavalry. "Collect one hundred battle-ready soldiers from Eastown, and rest well. At dawn, we ride for Fir'Spruce!" After everyone dispersed, and before Kirito and Eulsam parted ways, he spoke to him once more. "In return for my assistance in this, Kirito, I expect you to return the favor one day. I may someday need your help, in the war against Laughing Coffin and other PK guilds. Don't forget what I am doing for you now."

Kirito shook his head. "I won't. And when the time comes, I'm sure we'll be more than ready to help you. After all, our goals are the same. We'll meet you in Fir'Spruce!"

* * *

><p>Michiko, on the third week, was starting to lose hope. Her friends, she thought, had abandoned her. One day, Xaela entered the room, and knelt down before her. She cried, and couldn't speak through the emotions.<p>

Michiko had nearly lost all pity for the woman. "What?" she asked her though. It was cold, like they're friendship or whatever was left of it.

"I'm sorry," Xaela finally spoke up. "Every day, being made to do those terrible things, and the way he tortured me. I couldn't take it anymore." Her hair now was different. It had grown out, and she wore it all on one side. On the other, her hair was shaved, and stylized. Piercings that had been added to her face marked her transition to becoming a warrior.

Michiko shook her head. She couldn't forgive her. Worse than attacking her, she knew what Xaela had become now. She was the enemy.

"The day I came in to… to hurt you," she said. "Before that, he took me out into the street. He was going to… just… right there in front of everyone while they laughed at me. I couldn't live through that. I was weaker than you."

"I cannot forgive you," Michiko said. "You don't understand." Michiko pushed Xaela's chin up to look into her eyes. "We are enemies now. I know what you have done, and nothing you went through will justify it. Not in my eyes."

"Before I came back, he made me…" She couldn't finish saying it just yet. It choked her up, and she felt sick. "I had to drink it… the rest of it. Hachi's blood. I'd already done that, and he wanted me to do one more thing… to you. I told him I wouldn't, but he insisted. Saying that he would undo what he had just done if I didn't. I couldn't just stop halfway."

"Shut up!" Michiko shouted, slapping her across the face. "We're not friends anymore, don't you get it? I swore an oath to take vengeance on all of those who unjustly murdered other players in this world. That includes you now, Xaela!"

"Good," she said. She dropped her sword before Michiko. "Then do it. Please… I can't live with this anymore. I want to die, but I'm not strong enough… not like you."

Michiko picked up the blade, and started her swing as she screamed loudly, angry and mad at what cruelty she had witnessed. Before she hit Xaela though, she stopped and threw the weapon away.

"Michiko?" Xaela looked up at her.

The warden gritted her teeth, and glared at Xaela. "Next time. Once I'm free… if I see you after that, I'll kill you then. But not here… not now."

"Hai," she said. "I understand. It's not safe for you to do so here. Promise me that you'll do it though… the first real chance you get. I just… I don't want to live anymore."

"I already said I would," Michiko said. "Quit acting like it's some act of mercy. I'm not going to do it out of pity. I'll kill you because you deserve it. Now get out…" Xaela retrieved her weapon, and left the room.

Once she was gone, Michiko screamed, and punched the floor. "I have to," she muttered. "I can't make an exception just because I know her. I have to do it… why can't I do it?"

* * *

><p>Fir'Spruce was now a war town. Its walls had expanded, and a second set of walls had been added. These walls stood over fifteen feet high, and the inner walls were reinforced with steel and stone. The trees from around Fir'Spruce had all been chopped down, and charred bits of the wooden exterior wall was evidence of a continued offensive effort by Red-Handed.<p>

Tunnels had been constructed leading from the inner walls to the outer ones. The wooden parts had been destroyed and rebuilt again and again. Ballistae were lined up in the inner part of the town, as well as catapults. Reinforcements were arrive daily.

When Eulsam and Kirito's groups arrived, they lifted the spirits of the towns' defenders. Heavily armored soldiers, and heroes of two death games were welcomed with cheers, food, and water.

A group of the army's leaders met in the town hall. "Sword Art Online was neither large enough nor interactive enough to support major player battles like the one we are about to face. Our tactics are going to change with the expanded sizes of our forces." He unrolled a map of the area onto a table, and used stone carved figures that he kept on. "When we're dealing with upwards of hundreds of soldiers, we're not just going to have a massive brawl like you're used to. We'll be using lines and tactical maneuvering of our forces to outsmart our enemy. We're not sure exactly the size of their army, but we can assume that there are at least four hundred of them, based on the information we've gathered."

Eulsam set the pieces onto the map. Eight for Red-Handed, all painted red, and five for their side. "We can also assume that they have considerable intelligence on us. They've been fighting against Fir'Spruce for about two months now, and we know that they have heavy, magic-based siege capabilities." He pointed at two guard towers that were built on the north-eastern side of the outer wall. "We've been countering that with arcane magic, having arcane magic users in these towers in groups of six. Each would be capable of activating a magical barrier to block a fireball once every minute. They cycle as necessary, and so they've been capable of activating the shell once every ten seconds, and Red-Handed flame sorcerers haven't been able to penetrate the barriers yet. It's only a matter of time before they can bring in larger groups to take out the shields."

"But when their bigger groups come, they risk being in the threat range of our catapults," the captain of the town's guard said. "Wouldn't it be a bad strategy for them to send in all of their sorcerers at once?"

"Yes," Eulsam said. "But if they can manage a quick rush, and all hurl their fireballs at once, they could escape back into the forest and out of range before we can adjust our catapults aim. Normally, the archers in the towers would make quick work of any threats, but their fireballs are being thrown from out of their range. I want… four ballistae disassembled, and their weapons fitted to be mounted to those towers. We won't be able to use them on the offensive, no, but I'm not as worried about that."

"I thought the plan was to attack Red-Handed, not defend against them indefinitely."

"It still is," Asuna said. "There are more of them than us though. And they have defenses like we do. If we attack them head on, they'll wear down our forces behind defensive fortifications. By the time we get past them, we'll end up fighting one to five odds against their guild."

"Station our catapults behind those walls, and adjust them to fire at increments of thirty yards," Eulsam said. He moved one of the game pieces behind the two towers on the outer wall. Along with our weakest melee and ranged division."

"I see what you're doing," the guard captain said. "But how will we know how far the enemy is?"

"I saw it in a movie once. We're going to send scouts out to mark the backs of trees with colored paints. Marking thirty, sixty and ninety with different colors."

"Then won't the enemy be able to figure it out when they look back and see the painted tree trunks?"

"By then, it'll be too late," Kirito said. "They'll notice it just before boulders come crashing down on their heads."

"No," Eulsam said. "Not boulders." The group looked at Eulsam, not sure what he meant.

* * *

><p>Outside, Eulsam brought the group of leaders just beyond the inner wall. "I have to give Agil credit for this one," he said. "Show them what you've got."<p>

Agil held up a glass jar, and it was filled with a clear liquid. "Alcohol!"

"We're going to drink our enemies to death?" Sinon asked.

"No," Agil replied. "Besides, I wouldn't want to drink this stuff. It's like ninety-nine percent grain alcohol. But it does have its uses." He stuffed a rage into the top of the bottle, and lit it on fire before throwing it into a grassy area. It exploded in fire, and burned for a good five minutes.

"We have nearly two tons of this stuff ready to go," Klein said. "We'll draw out as many of the Red-Handed as we can, and lead them right up to our gates. When they all get too close, we unload with a single round of Molotov rounds. It'll splash all over the battlefield, and when they try to use their fire spells, their whole army will be set ablaze. It's a pretty sick idea."

"And when they're running around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off," Eulsam said. "Our reserve forces will charge out of the gate and finish them off. They'll be backed up by the ranged units too, who will provide suppressing fire against any archers they might bring to the battle. After the round of fire bottles, we'll load up our catapults with stone, and make it rain death at the back of their army, leaving them no escape and splitting up the burning soldiers from the healthy ones."

"And with half of their forces weak, our A and B divisions will charge in from the sides, closing their escape routes." Kirito smiled. "I like this plan."

"They've been relying too heavily on sorcery as their siege weapons. And it's going to cost them. They won't have many immobile defenses up except for walls, which will crumble under our catapults. We wait it out a little longer. I guarantee right now they're scouts are alerting their leaders of the arrival of our cavalry." Eulsam crossed his arms, smug of his plans.

"Speaking of the cavalry," Lisbeth said. "When are your soldiers going to jump into battle?"

"Don't worry," said Eulsam. "I've got everything covered."

* * *

><p>"Michiko," Katsuo said. "What am I to do?"<p>

Michiko looked up at him from the floor where she lay. She was not nearly as brutalized as she normally was. She thought he might just be taking a break, but now it seemed something was bothering him.

"It seems… your friends have returned to Fir'Spruce, and they have brought an army. They intend to kill me, don't they?"

She didn't respond.

"The old game of attacking and defending, and adventuring is over. They want to play a war game instead. Why are they so uptight about player killing? Do they get it from you?" He got up from the bed, and moved to leave the room. "Now I have no choice. I'm going to have to kill them all."

Later that night, Xaela came to Michiko in Katsuo's room. She sat on the bed, and sighed. "We're marching on Fir'Spruce. We should arrive by morning. Michiko… I just want you to know that I'm not going to hurt anyone else. I'll go out there, and I'll just let them kill me. I won't hurt your friends."

Michiko didn't respond at first. Xaela started to leave, and then she spoke up. "Xaela," she said. She stood up, and went over to her. "Don't go." She shook her head. "I have a feeling about this. They're going to win this fight, and they're going to rescue me and everyone else. But if you go, you'll die…"

"I thought you wanted me dead."

"I changed my mind… Xaela, I've been here for so long now. I've been through all of the worst kinds of torture, and I get it. I know you felt trapped, and had I been weaker, I'd have broken long ago. But you're right. I'm strong. I guess I just… can't hold everyone up to the same standards that I do."

"Michiko, I—"

Michiko leaned forward, and kissed her. "I forgive you…" she said after the short kiss. It would have been awkward had not the both of them already been forced into doing so much.

* * *

><p>It was dawn when Fir'Spruce scouts sent in the message. The whole town was on alert at once, and everyone got into position. The Red-Handed army marched until they saw Fir'Spruce in the distance.<p>

The army was led by a sub-commander in the guild, and not Katsuo. Katsuo himself stayed behind with the reserves. He looked out, and smiled before turning back to address the troops. "Men, women, all of you!" he shouted. "Today, we finish this nonsense! Today, no one will ever dare cross the Red-Handed ever again! We will tear through this town, and then the next, and we won't stop until we take Newberg itself! Everyone, weapons ready!"

Everyone cheered, and drew their weapons. They prepared their spells, and waited for the command. The leader waved his saber around and thrust it forward into the air. "Charge!" The whole army swarmed past him, rushing into the field.

Fireballs began to fall on the towers from a long distance, and the shields held up. "Catapults ready, sir!" someone shouted. "Awaiting order to return fire!"

Eulsam looked out from one of the guard towers, and then went back to address the army behind the gates. "Catapults prepare to fire in sixty seconds!"

As the charge went on, Kirito and his group were waiting off at a distance in the forest, watching the charge. On the opposite side of the Red-Handed army, the Black Wardens waited with them.

"Sir!" a mage shouted. "We can't hold much longer."

"We have to wait for the right moment!"

More and more Red-Handed rushed the field, and soon, about half of their forces were spread out over the firing range. One soldier looked back to see the painted trees. Then he started to run back towards the commander, waving his arms frantically to get his attention.

"Red catapults! Fire!"

A series of catapults all fired off their cargo. It hit the enemy forces closest to the gates. They were mostly unharmed, but covered in the alcohol. The fumes made them a little dizzy.

"Blue catapults! Fire!"

The next wave hit the middle of the forces. By now, the enemy commander had taken notice. He panicked and tried to shout over the commotion of battle. "Fall back!" he shouted. "Everyone fall back now!" It was too little too late, as the last set of bottles splashed around their spell casters.

They lit ablaze, and the fire trailed off across the whole battlefield. "Archers! Fire!" Dozens of archers loosed their arrows, and they rained down on the enemies closest to the gates. It was less about getting hits, and more about causing panic and chaos for Red-Handed.

After another couple seconds, Eulsam hopped down from the tower, diving into a tumble. "All troops, exit the gates. Storm the battlefield!"

As the gates opened, Leafa, from the towers cast her mass disarming spell on a large group of enemies. After that, every single one was somewhere between a full retreat, and running in circles, on fire.

The defenders charged out, and took the enemy in force, slaying them easily.

"Now!" Kirito shouted. All in his group, minus Leafa charged into the side of Red-Handed's retreating forces. They moved in and clashed swords, overtaking the out-maneuvered opponents with great ease.

Kirito went straight for the commander. On seeing Kirito coming for him, the commander hopped off of his horse, and engaged. They clashed swords, and more joined in. The more that came, the more distance there came between Kirito and the commander, and he turned to run away.

As he turned though, he was caught by surprise. A Red-Handed saber thrust straight into his throat, wielded by Xaela. Immediately, another guild member saw this betrayal, and took a swing, chopping the girl's red right hand off. She recoiled and cried out in pain, dropping to the ground. The Red-Handed were all forced to flee, though. Not many of them escaped.

A few hours later, the siege of the Red-Handed headquarters began.

* * *

><p>"Katsuo!" Kirito shouted at the gates. "It's over! Surrender now, and we'll take you in alive. If you don't come out now… we're going in for blood!"<p>

Behind the walls, the slaves were all taken and chained up, and caged up, so that they couldn't fight back. Except for Michiko. She was in Katsuo's bedroom still. He sat there on the bed, nervous. "Michiko," he said. "Your friends have killed hundreds today. And they'll kill a hundred more before the day ends. What about your vengeance now?"

She didn't respond.

"Answer me!" he shouted. He slapped her hard across the face, and she was knocked to the ground.

Outside, the fight had started. The catapults began firing on the walls. It was only a matter of time before they broke through.

The enemy of course had a plan as well. Some of their reserve forces had snuck from the town, assembling on either side. They made a charge to the flanks of the catapults. As they charged, however, Eulsam's cavalry division charged in as well. They cut through the flanking lines like tissue paper, and by the time they were done, holes large enough for the armies of justice to enter in through had been formed in the walls of the guild's home base.

The fight inside was large, but now, the Red-Handed were outnumbered, and these were their weakest soldiers. The fight carried into the courtyard, where a balcony connecting to Katsuo's room looked out. He went out and saw the mess, and thought himself a way to escape alive. The reason why they were here.

He went back inside, his sword in hand. "Michiko," he said. "I need a get out of jail free card, and you're it!"

Suddenly, he was attacked. Michiko tackled him to the ground, and had her dagger ready. Katsuo punched her, and it knocked her off. Then he stood up, about to perform he coupe de grace.

Michiko was too quick, and Katsuo was foolish enough to sacrifice his footing around her. She swept his feet out from under him, and got up to kick him in the head. He reeled in pain. The rest of him was armored, and so he covered his head with his gauntlets.

Michiko kicked his sword away, and he took the opportunity to attack again. He had her on the ground now, and her arms by her side. Her only move was a vicious one. She lashed out with her head, biting him and causing him to let go to hold his now bleeding neck.

Michiko went to slash him, but he rolled out of the way. She got up, and he came up with an uppercut, punching her in the gut. She was knocked down again, and reeled in pain on one knee. She picked up the dagger, which she'd dropped, and he grabbed her hand, and used his strength to crush it, causing her to drop it again.

Through another cry of pain, she punched him again in the head. Before she could pick up the dagger, he had it. Things weren't looking good now. His hand moved to grab her throat, and he held the dagger to her face.

While choking her, she was unable to do much but gasp for breath. "You bitch!" he shouted. He slashed her face, leaving a deep cut. "Convinced me to let that little shit go!" Then he punched her, breaking her nose.

"I wish I did so much more to you for this." With that, he dropped the dagger, and picked her up while she was still catching her breath. He threw her across the room, into a piece of furniture. He picked the dagger back up, and started to move towards her.

While on the ground, she got to her hands and knees, and looked over to see his saber on the ground, in her reach. She pulled it towards her, but he grabbed her by the feet, and she couldn't get a good grip. Still, she could play with the handle with her fingers.

He pushed her hard into the ground, holding her by the throat and she struggled and squirmed. He held the dagger up, and slowly moved it towards her eye. In one quick move, she pushed up with her knees, hard, causing him to lean back a bit.

And then, she got it. With his saber she swung hard, hitting his neck and taking Katsuo's head off of his shoulders.

As the brawl ensued outside, there was still a large enough group of Red-Handed to be able to fight back, and kill a decent amount of players. Michiko walked out onto the balcony, holding Katsuo's head in her broken hand by the hair. In the other hand, she held his saber.

As players began to take notice, she held the head up. "Your commander general Katsuo, is dead!" she shouted. Silence gripped the battlefield. "Your best soldiers, are all dead! There is nothing left here for you to fight for! So keep fighting, if you really want to, and die! Or… surrender while you still can. Or run and never stop running… and maybe live!"

With that, she flung the severed head out into the courtyard. All over the battlefield, Red-Handed were dropping their weapons, and holding up their arms in surrender. More than that though, were fleeing, making a break for it in the ceasefire. Many did escape, but the armies of justice had prevailed.


	10. Chapter 10: Anniversary

The city of Newberg, one year after the start of the game, was the safest and greatest player hub in all of Vearth. It had a functioning, gold-based economy, and its buildings were constructed of stone. Over time, it had become a beautiful player center.

At its center, where once the courtyard and the town hall stood, there was now a large, capitol building. It was made of brightly colored marble, and decorated with statues of the game's heroes. Among them stood even players that the town had not seen in several months like Kirito and Sampson.

All across the city, guards dressed in blue and white armor, enlisted by the Protectors, kept the peace, and aided lower level players in their day-to-day lives. And this was a time of celebration… as much as it was a time of uncertainty and fear.

The one-year anniversary was celebrated by the players here. They crafted large quantities of delicious food, and ribbons and other items. By now, many had begun to forget Earth, their old home. Many were starting to accept that this was their new life, and they got used to it.

But a grim reminder of the game's unfriendly beginning came to them that day. Laughing Coffin had snuck into the city, and played like normal people, lying in wait for the moment to arrive. On the one-year anniversary of their new game, they performed yet another slaughter.

* * *

><p>In the real world, the new television show had started airing. And it wasn't just one show. With so much content from so many generous players and families… or perhaps desperate players and families, media studies had begun to air a variety of shows. One such show followed Kirito and his friends. Another focused on a few players' daily lives living in peaceful and protected towns. Some set their sights on players that Kirito had never even heard of… but who were performing important roles in other, distant lands from the east.<p>

This sparked… great controversy. Some groups protested this outright. Some groups openly supported it. In the first year of airing, the shows would be the topics of classroom debates, comedy shows and political satire. The whole world was buzzing in one way or another about the players and their being put on stage for a global audience. As time went on, even they too began to forget the reality of the situation.

One thing was for certain though. It was working. Funding poured into the IVRTF, and it gave them further advantages in their war on the terrorist group Laughing Coffin. They had such a cash flow, that they were even able to pay hospitals and doctors for their services in keeping the players alive. Of course, throwing more money onto the situation didn't make its resolution any faster.

To date, not a single Laughing Coffin cell had been located. It was beginning to look like a very fruitless, costly war. And now… the public was starting to think that more of that money ought to go to the families of victims, rather than fund the efforts against the perpetrators.

* * *

><p>And to date, not a single Laughing Coffin base had been found within the game. They knew only that there were many of them. With no intelligence, no one saw the attack coming.<p>

The day after the surprise, Eulsam and his high ranking officers met in the town center, in a room with a long, oaken table and wooden chairs, not very different from the one the IVRTF agents met in once a month.

"Did we manage to capture any of them?" Eulsam asked.

"No," Xaela said. She wore the red and blue uniform now. "In fact, we lost prisoners. Laughing Coffin broke into our dungeon, and released the Red-Handed members we had captured after the battle of Fir'Spruce. And that includes three of Katsuo's former lieutenants."

Eulsam shook his head against the palm of his left hand. His right arm rested on the table, and he fiddled with a feather pen. "How many died?"

"Our records now indicate four-hundred and seventeen deaths, total. That's not including Laughing Coffin or Red-Handed members. But that's just in Newberg."

"This attack went outside of Newberg, as well?"

"Yes, we're still gathering all of the information for our outer towns. Early estimations put the total death toll over a thousand."

"We need tighter security on the towns, and in the city. We need to create a… a census to keep track of everyone. We need to know who's here, who's coming and who's going from now on. There still might be some of them here."

"Yes, sir," Xaela said. "I'll put my troops on it right away."

* * *

><p>In the real world, the IVRTF met again. "Alright, Seijiro," the director spoke. "Tell everyone why we're here."<p>

Seijiro nodded, and turned on a projector from his laptop. "I'm sure you all have heard by now, rumors of an attack on the player base by the Laughing Coffin. It was a horrible attack and resulted in the deaths of over a thousand players inside of a few hours. We have also confirmed that over eighty Red-Handed prisoners were set free. But the most significant event is this, right here."

He played a clip for everyone. It appeared to be from the perspective of one of the victims of the attack. A Laughing Coffin guild member was holding this players head up, and speaking to her.

"Who are we watching?" someone asked.

"This is a camera focused on one of the rising stars of one of those shows. That's why we caught this, because we paid special attention to her. Unfortunately, it seems she was killed shortly after this footage."

"Listen to me." The voice came from the clip, it was the player killer talking. "I am speaking now to the IVRTF directly. We have known about your little Pegasus system and your home videos for quite some time before they became a hit on TV. We have chosen, thus far, to allow it. In fact, we were counting on it. But if you wish to continue using these systems without consequence, we have some demands. One month ago, a soon-to-be player killer was about to slay his first prey. When suddenly he was disconnected from the game, which caused his victim to gain the upper hand, and kill him first. Someone outside of the game intervened, and removed the player's AmuSphere. It was likely someone close to the player who should be dead right now. We chose to let this incident go… but only once. Despite our terrorist label, we stand for nothing more than the integrity of our game. We have not used our system access to unfairly kill players. However, if something else happens to break the game's integrity on the outside, we will have no problem breaking it back. We will empower player killers drastically. We will unleash monsters into low level zones that cannot be killed. And using system commands, we will make sure that any player who benefits from a real-world intervention such as this, dies."

The room was shocked. They had no idea how far ahead their enemy was until now.

* * *

><p>An urgent message was sent from Eulsam to Kirito. He and his group were busy clearing a dungeon. By this point, Kirito had unlocked his dual wielding special skill, and was making great use of it. He stopped before the boss room to read it.<p>

"Kirito," it said. "I need to collect on the favor you owe me. Bring your group to Eastown ASAP."

"Kirito," Klein said. "Are you ready yet?"

He shook his head. "We have to leave," he said. "Now."

"But… the boss. We're almost done." Klein took another step towards the door. "Why can't it wait?"

"It's Eulsam. He needs our help." Kirito sent a message back to him. A few moments later he got a reply. After reading it, he looked at his group. "He needs our help attacking a Laughing Coffin base!"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Michiko, who, in her full armor was labeled again as Mokatso, was with a small group of Black Wardens in a cold, dark mountainous area. Around them were eight corpses of players. She pulled her weapon out of one of them just before getting the message.<p>

"Michiko," it said. "Attack on Laughing Coffin. In or out? Head to Eastown."

Behind her armor, she smirked. She sent a reply. "OMW."

* * *

><p>Leafa had teleported the group to Eastown, so their journey was short. Michiko and the Black Wardens would take a longer time to gather up and head out. When Kirito and his party arrived in Eastown, they were greeted by Eulsam, who was waiting for them.<p>

"So glad you could make it," he said. "Did you hear at all about the attack?"

"The attack on LC?" Asuna asked.

"No, the attack by LC, on the Kingdom."

"No, we haven't heard of that," Lisbeth said.

"It was about a month ago, now," Eulsam said. "Over a thousand players lost their lives. And what's worse, many of our Red-Handed prisoners escaped. Ever since then, we've been scouting and looking for a base. Now we found it, and we need to launch a counter-attack."

"I bet you really want to take some LC'ers alive," Kirito said.

"Indeed I do. Laughing Coffin members have been captured before, but never one of the higher ups. I want to capture and interrogate an officer. We need information on their guild beyond what their grunts can give us."

"Sounds dangerous," Kirito said. "Where's the base."

"It's close," Eulsam said. "Not very close, but close. It will be about a week of travel."

"That may be harder to fight then," Lisbeth said. "Last time we had the advantage of the enemy base being close enough to move troops back and forth between their base and ours."

"Yes, this fight is going to be a bit harder. But our scouts have collected a decent amount of information about their base. They don't know we're coming, and there aren't but a hundred of them there."

"Don't forget though," Kirito said. "Laughing Coffin uses NPC's to fight."

"I have not forgotten that. But NPC's are cannon fodder compared to the real deal. High level players like us will have no trouble with them." He looked at Kirito, and noticed his second sword on his back. "I see you've finally gotten your dual wielding."

"Level sixty was my prereq. How did you get yours at such a low level?"

"Maybe they're different," Eulsam said. "Nonetheless, it will be useful in combat."

"When do we leave?" Asuna asked, interrupting the small talk.

"We're heading out now that you're here." Eulsam whistled, and waved an arm around. His troops started gathering their belongings. "It will be exciting… to see your dual wielding in action for the first time. I can't wait to see if you're better or worse than I am."

Asuna laughed at him. "You're not better than Kirito. Kirito nearly soloed a boss on the seventy-fourth level of Aincrad."

"I have heard," Eulsam said. "I hope he fights with all the same fury he brought to that battle. We're going to need it. I have also heard that your friend, Sampson can chop through an army."

"My strength is great," Sampson said. "But I have not yet seen an army stand before me long enough to try it."

"And you're not so bad yourself, Asuna," Eulsam said. "I have heard stories of you as well. They say that your skill in wielding a single-sword is unmatched… that you have an eleven-hit combo. Why do you fight with a spear?" Eulsam mounted up, and started out. The rest followed.

"I do have Yuuki's eleven hit combo," Asuna said. "But I don't want to use it because of my connection to her. My special ability in this game seems fun enough."

"And Klein," Eulsam said. "The lightning quick single strike. How does it suite you?"

"Pretty well, I could show you in a duel some time," Klein said. "Even Kirito had trouble blocking it."

"Do the rest of you have a special ability yet?"

The rest of the party shook their heads. "Mine won't come till level 70. It's something called… warp shot. I don't know what to expect," Sinon said.

"My special ability is hidden," Sampson said. "I have to unlock it from a means other than leveling. I don't know what it could be."

"Two more levels," Lisbeth said. "I'll get my shield throw ability. I'm not sure what benefit throwing my shield would have, but I can't wait to try it out."

* * *

><p>Michiko and her two party members were on their way back to the Black Warden headquarters when they stumbled upon something strange.<p>

There was a man sitting on a rock ahead of them. He held a staff in his hands, and over his face, he wore a hood, hiding himself. Michiko slowly approached him. The red cursor above his head told her just about everything she needed to know.

He held out his staff as she got closer, and tapped it against the ground. "Mokatso," a muffled voice said, coming from the man in a hood. "It's nice to finally meet face to face… or… sort of."

"Do I know you?" she said back. Her voice was muffled as well.

"Not yet." He stood up, and removed his hood, revealing his face. He had short, messy hair, and a strangely calm look. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the black prophet, and herald of the Death Oath. You've been killing my guild members…"

Michiko was taken off guard by this. He would unmask himself and claim to be the leader of a major PK'ing guild in her presence… alone? "Bullshit!"

"Oh, you offend me, madam."

Michiko was even more surprised that he knew her gender. But what he said next was more surprising.

"Michiko," he said. "That's your real name. Won't you take off that mask?"

She paused, and then did so. "How can you tell?"

"This," he said, tapping his staff to the ground again. "Is a legendary weapon. It is called the staff of truth telling. No one within fifty feet of it can deceive another player or an NPC."

"Or you're lying about that…"

"Test it out. Try telling me your name is Mokatso."

Michiko stood there for a moment. "My name is Michiko." She was then stunned. Perhaps he was telling the truth.

"Yes, so you see. No one here can tell a lie. So hear this. No one else in my guild is close enough to attack you."

"Okay," she says. "What do you want?"

"I want you to hear me out."

"Give me a reason not to kill you here and now."

"If you tried to kill me now, you might succeed. Let me tell you about what it is exactly that we do."

"You kill players… for kicks as far as I can tell."

"No," he said. "Not for kicks. We do have a purpose for all of our carnage. You see, way back in the first month of play, I learned something incredible. A dark and powerful secret hidden in this game."

"Oh yeah. What's that?"

"That there is a god in this world, and his name spells death. There is no escaping him. Eventually, he will come for everyone. But he offers something for those who assist him."

"You're nuts. You have to realize this."

"Immortality… He knows all of the secrets about death in this world. It is inevitable, but with the proper magic and the proper artifacts, death doesn't have to be the end. He has promised me the secrets of reincarnation. We will all rise up from the grave, with unimaginable power."

"So what do you have to do for him?"

"Well, first, we have to open the Doors of Fate. Inside is a being is great power, and we intend to unleash him on the world. In order to do this, many must die. He has promised that those who die will be reborn. Everyone… including your sister."

Michiko blinked and took a deep breath. The thoughts racing back to her, she didn't know what to think.

"That's right. We know what happened to you. Everything. We have eyes and ears everywhere. So I'll make this offer to you. Join us. You will see your sister again. And all of the killing, as you will see… it won't matter."

Michiko looked down, and then back at the man. "For the whole year… I've dreamed of her. Not a day went by that I forgot of her… that I didn't wish I could see her again."

"So…"

"But no," Michiko said. "I will have my revenge for her someday. But she is dead. Never coming back. And you are still insane. It's time for you to die."

"Oh, so sad that you should decline this opportunity. Very well. Kill her."

Michiko looked around, and raised her weapon. She didn't see any other threats, but then suddenly, her two guards struck. At her from behind. She was knocked down, and quickly turned to get up. "You… you betray me? What did he say to convince you?"

"It's not what I said…" the man spoke. "It's more… what I did. Show her."

The two guards removed their helmets, and as they did, their player cursors vanished. Inside of the suits of armor were zombified versions of Michiko's former guild members. She bowed her head, and took another breath. "I'm sorry then… I don't know how or when it happened. But I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

She charged for them, and made quick work of the undead guards. When she was done, however, the Black Prophet was gone. Then, things got worse. Michiko suddenly fell to the ground, and grabbed her head. She had now a terrible headache, and when she looked up, she had no idea where she was, or what had happened.

* * *

><p>Kirito, Eulsam and their groups had arrived at their destination. They stayed a good distance away from the Laughing Coffin base, so as not to alert the enemy to their presence. Shortly after, Michiko had arrived, along with twelve of her wardens.<p>

"Mokatso," Kirito said. "Glad you could make it."

"Please," she said. Her voice was muffled. "You know my real name now. Feel free to use it."

"Right," he said. "I almost forgot about your whole secret identity."

"It's not very secret anymore."

"Now that everyone is here, we can formulate our plan of attack." Eulsam had a map drawn up of the Laughing Coffin base. "It's a small base, like I said. So I'm not worried about turning this into a siege like Fir'Spruce. There, we were outnumbered. Here, we have the advantage. Kirito's group will go in first, and draw their troops out into the main courtyard here. Michiko, you take your wardens, and jump on them from behind, where this overlook is. Can you manage a jump from that height."

"It's nothing…"

"Good. Once they are trying to split their troops onto two fronts, my cavalry will ride in past Kirito, and form a barricade halfway through their base, keeping them from properly managing the division of their members. I will have D squad wait outside, and patrol the perimeter, making sure no one escapes. Remember, our objective is to capture a ranking officer. We need intelligence more than we need victory in this fight."

"Do we know where the officers keep?"

Eulsam pointed to a building on the map. "In the central building here. My cavalry will have it surrounded, and we'll all go in once we're ready. Once we get inside, we expect minimal resistance. Leafa will activate her mass disarm inside the building, and we will seize the opportunity to restrain any Laughing Coffin. Are we clear?"

Everyone the group nodded, and responded with a simple "yes."

"Let's move out!"

* * *

><p>"Do you think it's true?" In Seijiro's headquarters, an agent discussed the footage of Michiko's encounter with the Death Oath leader.<p>

"There's no way," Seijiro said. "It's just not possible. It can't be… We'll look into it, I suppose. How has the segregation gone?"

"It's gone well," the man said. "All players have been moved to separate rooms. And each one is locked by a door that only family members, IVRTF agents, and doctors have access to. The announcement is set to air tonight, before Kirito's episode."

"I hope it's enough. If Laughing Coffin expects us to police every single hospital room, we'll never succeed."

"What if it was someone close to you? Would you do it?"

"What do you mean?"

"If your friend, or your son or daughter was in that game, about to die at the hands of the player in the next bed over. Would you stop it?"

"Of course I would. That's why this is dangerous…"


	11. Chapter 11: Revenge

_Week 3, Day 5._

While Kirito and his group were making friends out the elves, Michiko was far from the person she had become. She went with another, older woman to a lake outside of a town to the south of Eastown. Back then, things had not escalated so much. Player-killer guilds had not yet rose to power in the world of Vearth.

"Lilly," Michiko said. "Are you sure it's safe out here?"

"Don't be silly. We're not far away from town at all. Besides, there's someone I want you to meet."

"Okay," Michiko said. Her hair was short then. And though there were only months separating her from the Michiko that led the Black Wardens, she looked and acted younger. Her innocence was intact. "If you say it's safe, I'll trust you."

The two of them changed their clothed, and took a swim in the lake. There were no monsters or dangers, only fish. Overhead, the sun shined. Even though it was still winter, that day was beautiful, warm and sunny.

They got out of the water about an hour later, and sat together under a tree. Lilly had pulled a meal for each of them from her inventory, pork sandwiches, and they ate.

"Weren't you supposed to meet someone here?" Michiko asked.

"Yes," Lilly said. "I guess they're running late." After the meal, Michiko went back into the water to swim.

She dove under. In the game world, you could open your eyes beneath the surface, and it wouldn't hurt. Your vision wouldn't even be affected if the water was clear enough. She watched the fish swim by her, and then resurfaced.

She looked up the hill to the tree where Lilly stood. She was with a man. Michiko couldn't make out the details, but she assumed it was who she was set to meet with.

As Michiko began swimming to the edge of the water, though, something went wrong. Lilly pushed the man away, and they seemed to argue. Lily was brought to her knees in tears. While she was looking down, the man pulled out a sword, and beheaded her. Before he left the scene, Michiko noticed one single detail. The man had the insignia of the Laughing Coffin tattooed on his left hand with red ink, which was exposed when he looted Lily's body.

* * *

><p><em>Year 2, Month 2, Day 10<em>

Michiko snapped out of the memory of her older sister. She walked alongside her fellow wardens. "Laughing Coffin," she thought. "I'm coming for you."

* * *

><p>As was planned, Kirito and his band of heroes were the first to attack. They walked up to the base, alone. Laughing Coffin saw them come, and thought that they were fools to attack with so few numbers. One of their members stepped towards them as Kirito entered the courtyard of their small town. No one attacked them outright.<p>

"Well, if it isn't Kirito," the man said. "Hero of Sword Art Online. Awfully brave of you to come here with so few of you."

Kirito recognized this man's voice. He faced him directly, and smiled. "Johnny Black. Long time, no see."

"Personally, I would have preferred to kill you in the real world. But when my former guildies told me their new plan, I couldn't resist. What are you doing here? Are you going to kill us all?"

"We're here to negotiate your surrender," Kirito said. "If you don't, we'll kill every Laughing Coffin member in this place."

He laughed. "Oh, that's bold of you. Before we begin… I have to hear your terms."

Kirito drew one sword, and pointed it at Johnny. "You're an officer, no doubt. You come with us. You're all we need. This is the only warning I'll give you. And know that we'll take you in anyways."

He laughed again. The Laughing Coffin all drew their weapons. "I'm going to have to decline. Any last words?"

"Die," Sinon whispered. She was firing an arrow at the same time Agil was knocking her aim off.

"No, Sinon! We need him alive!"

Then the fighting started. Johnny turned and ran while the rest of the guild began their attack. Kirito drew his second sword, and his party all drew their weapons.

One man with an axe charged straight for Sampson. It was a mistake he soon regretted, as Sampson brought his weapon around fast, and chopped right through his opponent.

Three of them focused on Kirito, but of course, Kirito was far too fast and skilled. Not to mention he had at least twenty levels on them. He thrust his off-hand blade into one, and left it there, using one sword to fight the remaining two. After killing both of them, he drew his weapon from the first one's gut, and engaged more fighters.

NPC Laughing Coffin members began to emerge from buildings, joining the fight. The group mopped them up like the spill on isle three. It took very little effort.

As Johnny ran, he gathered up the other officers, and started to head for the backside of the town. Then, the wardens dropped down, and drew their weapons. "It's an ambush!" Johnny said. "Fall back to the keep!" They all ran from the wardens while more NPC's and a few actual players took them on.

"The officers," someone said to Eulsam as they watched from a distance. "They're on the move. If we go in now, we could take them without effort."

"If we charge in with cavalry now, they might run from the town instead." He looked and waited. "No… we wait for them to hold up in a place where they can't so easily escape."

When the first wave attacked the wardens, it was a clang, then another, and then the sound of steel piercing flesh. Attacking them with the wild tactics Laughing Coffin was used to was like fighting the Roman legion. The wardens pressed forward, and the killing continued.

Once the officers were in the keep, Eulsam and his riders charged into the battle. They circled the fortress, and rode through the alleyways of the town, keeping reinforcements from getting to where they needed to be.

"You finish this," Michiko said. "I'm going to join Kirito and the others." She charged ahead, blocking a couple shots and retaliating with instant death blows.

Eulsam had something similar in mind as well. He had hopped off his horse, and drew dual blades to fight the mob of NPC's. "Red-Handed makes these guys seem so weak," he said as he got closer to Kirito.

"Laughing Coffin is just a mob. They rely on outnumbering their opponents, and catching them when they're weak or unprepared."

"So in other words," Michiko said as she joined the conversation. "They're cowards."

"Very much so!" Kirito thrust his sword into a player's face. He then watched Eulsam for a moment, observing how he fought with dual swords. He wanted to see if it really was different from his own skills.

Eulsam's sword attacks were something of an art. He would whirl them around as he moved, making his attacks hard to predict. He rarely missed, but then again, neither did Kirito. His own style was less of that, and more straight forward. He made more attacks with his weapons, but they were more likely to be seen coming.

As the fight went on, he also watched Michiko. Her advantage came from wielding her special weapon. It must have been heavy, which meant her strength must be high to be able to wield it. Even more so with the way she spun it and pushed with it. It took little observation to see how it was used. Most attacks were counters. She would let an enemy try to hit her, and then catch the weapon between two of the blades on her weapon. Then, she spin it, parrying the attack, and thrust the weapon forward to deliver her own strike.

Most of the time fighting, Michiko was low to the ground, nearly in a crouching position as she tossed the weapon from hand to hand, and moved it around her back and over her head. When it spun, it was impossible to land an attack, because it effectively covered her entire body. She was open to attack only when making a strike of her own, which is why most of her moves were blocks and counters.

"Kirito," Eulsam said. "I was hoping to see more of your skills. But you seem distracted with my own. Do you admit my superiority, then?"

Kirito laughed, and shook his head. "No… just keeping mine secret in case we duel someday."

"A favorite strategy of mine, I like it."

Before long, the entire base had been emptied out. All that was left was to go into the keep. "Alright," Eulsam said. "This should be easy. Leafa, I hope you saved your mana for this one."

"Hai," Leafa said. She started to cast her spell.

Once it was done, the group charged in, and took the remaining members into custody. As they did so though, Michiko saw in the back of the room and escape route. A tunnel.

"Tunnel!" she shouted before hopping down in it, and running to chase her enemies.

"Michiko, wait!" Eulsam said. "Don't go alone! Kirito, Asuna, Klein, Sinon Sampson. Back her up!"

The small group all nodded, and went in to go with Michiko. She was already far ahead of them. Kirito and the others raced to catch up to her, but she was fast.

In the tunnel, she was taken off guard by a strike from a hidden angle. She dodged the attack, but rolled over the ground doing so. Once she got up, she was ready to fight. The man took a swing at her, and she parried the attack before striking herself. She cut him, but not badly.

When he struck next, it was quick, and he sliced at her left arm, causing her to drop her weapon. It did not deter her attack however. She reached forward with a punch, and then went to grab hold of his shirt. She missed, but grabbed something else.

The man had been wearing a necklace, and she took it off of him when he whipped around and got free of her grip. As he ran, she looked down to see a diamond ring. She took a look at it, and read to herself the text that was inside. "Lily…" Her eyes widened behind her helmet, and she had a flashback of the moment at the lake with her sister.

Now she saw clearly in her mind what was taken. It shined in the light, and this must be it. A ring… a diamond engagement ring. The man had begun to run. And Michiko hesitated as she thought back, and thought forward.

Kirito and the group caught up to her, but had to catch her breath. "Michiko," he said. "Wait."

She looked at Kirito, and then her weapon. Without waiting at all, she grabbed her weapon, and charged after her enemy. "No," she said to herself. "I have to know…"

As she ran, she pocketed the ring. Soon enough she reached the tunnel's exit, into the forest. Though she didn't take the time to look, her vitals had changed. Her spirit and will appeared to exceed their maximum value, and her energy was still at full.

She looked around, and saw a glimpse of her target escaping. She kept up her running after him. She chased him then through the forest, unceasing in her quest to find this man, and ask him. She had to know for sure. It could be coincidence.

The man had stopped to catch his breath at a river. She walked towards him once he stopped.

"Where did you get it," she asked.

He looked back at her, confused. "What?"

"The ring! Where did you get the ring?"

He felt his chest, and that the ring had vanished. "A friend gave it to me. What's it to you?"

She leapt at him, attacking. "Everything!" she shouted. Her blood started to pump faster. The man dodged the attack and got back to running.

"You can't run from me!" she shouted as she chased.

Night was starting to fall. He ran down a hill, and through some bushes. She followed with great ferocity. She would not let him escape.

He had to stop again to catch his breath. She was giving him a run for his money. She found him again, and readied her weapon. "On the inside of the ring, there's a name. Who is it?"

The man blinked. He tried to think. Maybe if she got her information, she would quit the chase. He too was trying to figure things out. "Uhh… L… Lily!"

"Don't act like you don't know!"

"Lily your girlfriend?" he asked, laughing a little.

She attacked him in rage, and he ducked away. Her furious attacking left more and more chances for him to strike back, and he did, slashing at her side. With her armor, it did minimal damage. He started running again.

"I don't know anything about the ring!" he shouted. "I got it from a friend!"

He tripped over a rock, and took some damage. She caught up to him again. She looked at him, and breathed heavily. "Liar!"

"Okay, so… I'm a liar," he said. "You think I stole it. Who was Lily?"

"You killed her!" Michiko attacked him, and he dodged attacks. This time, he made good strikes, hitting her at spots that were less armored and dealing real damage.

"Okay, so I killed Lily!" He shouted. "I killed Lily and stole the ring!"

Michiko didn't even care about her injuries. Her arm was soaked in blood, and blood soaked her armor. She kept up the attack, and put him on the defensive. "Why did you kill her?" she shouted.

He saw a break in the attacks, and ran again. He jumped over a cliff, and into a lake at the bottom. The water broke his fall, and he swam to shore. There he looked around for Michiko.

Michiko jumped down after him, and she too landed in water. She was heavy though, and so she began to strip off her armor, leaving it behind. When she emerged from the lake, she had on nothing but tattered clothes, and wielded her weapon.

He was backed against a wall now. He began to laugh. "Yes," he said. "I remember now!" He drew his weapon, and prepared to fight. "Lily, cute name. I never really take a look at the names of my targets."

"You didn't know her?" Michiko asked. Then she attacked again. She swung wild and hard with her blade weapon, bringing it from side to side. Without her armor, she was incredibly fast.

"I might have, but I don't remember you! Please, jog my memory!" While she was fast, her rage had left her with very little finesse. He dodged her attacks left and right. Then, when an opening came, he thrust his sword at her, cutting through her side.

She reeled in pain. While she was on the ground, she spoke. "She was my sister, you monster. I know you knew her. She was planning on meeting someone that day. I think it was you!"

He smiled, and nodded. "Ahh, I see." He walked up to her, slowly. "I'm sorry to tell you that I didn't. Wait, no I'm not."

She went and attacked again. Dodging her blows was starting to become child's play. "Liar! You knew her! You killed her!" She swung and swung, but her energy was draining.

He knew she couldn't keep swinging the heavy weapon around like that forever, especially with all the running she'd done. "No!" he shouted back. When another opening came, he moved to her unguarded side, and stabbed her. It was a critical strike, bringing her down below fifty percent health.

Now she was out of breath, and dropped her weapon as she fell to the ground. He went up and kicked her in the side. "No!" he shouted again. "I didn't know her. She was just another random victim." He started laughing at her. "And you tracked me down after all these… what… several months now to find me and take your revenge? Too bad!" He went to stomp on her head.

She jumped up into an attack though, grabbing his leg and pulling, knocking him down. He dropped his weapon, and she punched him in the face three times. After that, she pulled him up, and threw him back.

"Show me your right hand," she said.

He looked up at her from the ground. "No," he said. He drew a dagger, and ran at her. After tackling her to the ground, he started to stab her. She took serious damage, and struggled, but got him off of her.

It was a grim situation. She was nearing death, and he still had at least seventy percent of his health. "This is the real world!" he shouted, and spat at her. "The good guys don't win! Innocent people die!"

She screamed as she was stabbed more and more. "And people like you… fail…" At the last moment, she bashed his nose with her head. It did minimal damage to both, but was painful, and knocked him back.

She held her head for a few moments, but saw that he dropped his dagger. She took it and charged him. "No!" she shouted. "You're mine! I win!" She stabbed him in the face, and then kept going. She cut his throat, his mouth, his ear.

Soon, he was a sputtering mess. After it was over, she threw the dagger down. She was looking down at him and still angry. She still hadn't checked though. She pulled his right hand over, and took off his glove. No tattoo.

In that moment, she took her hand off of his neck, and it was covered, painted in blood. She recalled her time as a slave to Katsuo, the commander general of the Red-Handed. She recalled how she wouldn't break. Now though, as she looked down at the battered, beaten face of her enemy, she felt her heart sink.

After all she'd been through, her anger and her rage poured out. She took vengeance for Lily… for herself… for Xaela and everyone she ever met who had suffered in this world at the hands of the player killers.

She had won the battle for her revenge, but lost the war for her very soul in her mind. And who was this man. This man that she didn't even know the crimes of. When she looked at his player cursor, she saw something… green. He had attacked her in self-defense, and otherwise hadn't harmed another player, at least not in a full week.

Despite his guild, it was entirely possible that he never hurt anyone. Hers of course, was blood red. It never changed. Always, since she became Mokatso, she was a head hunter. How was she different? She told herself… always, that she killed for justice. But they needed this man alive. Him alive would have served justice more than this.

She screamed out to the sky, loud. Kirito and the others heard this, and went to find her. They used their maps to locate her, following the pinged location of her avatar. But then, it suddenly vanished. They raced fast toward that spot.

Michiko dove back into the lake after drinking health potions. She donned her armor, and reclaimed her weapon. And then, like that, she was gone. Not only did she remove all of her friends, but she left her own guild. And like that, she disappeared from the face of Vearth.

When Kirito and the others arrived, and couldn't find her near the dead body of the unknown Laughing Coffin, they didn't know what to think except that she had died.

* * *

><p>"So let me get this straight," Eulsam said. "We failed to capture a leader. Michiko is missing, presumed dead. And we didn't learn anything new from our captured enemies at all."<p>

"At least we got something," Asuna said.

"What?" Eulsam asked. "What did we gain from this?" No one answered. "Our mission was a failure."

"We got some prisoners. We took dangerous players from the game," Kirito said. "That is something. We need to stay positive about this."

"It's clear what needs to happen," Eulsam said.

"What?" Kirito said.

"We'll never get any new information hiding behind our kingdom's security. I hate to do it, but we're going to have to thin out our numbers. The threat isn't here in our city. It's out there, in the world. And the less time we spend going out there, the more space we'll give them to grow."

"Still not following…"

"Vice commander," Eulsam said. "Can you maintain the defenses and security in the kingdom?"

"Yes, sir," a man said.

"Good… then here's what I'm going to do. Kirito."

"Hmm?" Kirito was still waiting for him to finish.

Eulsam pulled out a sword, and put its tip to the floor, holding it tight. "I feel I need to be on the front lines of this world. I humbly offer my blades. Please, allow me to join your party."

"That was a little long-winded," Kirito said.

"Yes, I… do have a pension for being dramatic, I suppose. He sheathed his blade. But what say you? Will you allow me to fight by your side?"

Kirito turned to Asuna, and then to the rest of the group. I few nods later, Kirito sent him a party invitation, and extended his hand to shake. "Welcome to the A team, Eulsam."

"Can I get in on this?" Xaela asked. "Before Red-Handed took me, I was part of an adventure group. I miss it. And I've done terrible things, I know. But I think joining the heroes of Vearth would be a good way to make up for it. Plus… if Michiko is out there. I want to be there when you find her." She held her hand close to her heart.

"Oh, why not," Kirito said, sending out the invite. "But if we take on too many more, we'll go over the player cap."

Xaela did a quick curtsy. "Thank you, hero."

"Okay, let's hurry up and get out of here," Klein said. "We still have to finish that dungeon."

"Hai," Kirito said. "Let's go."


	12. Chapter 12: The Temple of Fire

It had been nearly two months since Michiko's disappearance. Kirito's core group had gone back east. Now, at a higher level, they ventured further across the desert, and came upon a new zone. The southeastern border of the deserts, which had become known as the Dune Sea, was marked by a huge wall of rock. This wall was a cliff, and on the top was a much different terrain.

Access to this zone was unlocked by a dungeon. It had already been cleared out by the time Kirito and his friends arrived, and the hallow shell of the dungeon had been turned into something of a town.

Since Kirito and the others had spent a great deal of their time traveling, other players had advanced past them again, and were exploring farther than they had ever been. It was a little disappointing to see players of a higher level than them. But with nearly eighty thousand players, there were bound to be some who progressed faster.

The choir of Vearthan heroes was expanding rapidly. There were over two hundred who were considered heroes that served for the good of either the common players or the adventurers. And about twenty thousand players considered themselves active adventurers, with just over four thousand exploring the newest available zones at any given time.

The town of Duneclimb was where Kirito and the others found themselves. The dungeon that was converted into this town was said to be dark, and dreary, full of winding and vast corridors. Since it's clearing though, those corridors were all explored. The caves were well lit with magical lights, and it had brought a certain beauty to it.

Duneclimb was laid out less like a cityscape, and more like an ant hill. It was built vertically into the cliffs and the caves, and the town's center was in the very middle. Elevators working with both magical and mechanical opponents ferried players to the different floors.

The zone at the top of the cliffs was as vast as any other. A huge tower was constructed at the top of the town, and players could go to the top to look out over the landscape. What they would see was spotted jungles, and vast empty plains. At the center of the Jungle Plateau there stood a mountain, with a set of large stone buildings on one side.

"What is that," Kirito asked aloud, pointing out towards the apparent city in the distance.

"The Temple of Fire," one player said.

Kirito looked over at him. This player was level fifty-five. He wore armor that had a strange tint to it, the way the sunlight reflected off of it, it looked like a pearlescent green color. "A dungeon?"

"Yes," the player said. "Many groups have been trying to learn more information about it, but so far no one has even gotten close enough to see what lies in store because the monsters and guards outside of the temple are too high a level."

"How high?" Kirito asked. Kirito and Eulsam were the highest level in their group, tied at sixty-eight.

"They range from sixty-seven to seventy-four. The monsters inside are expected to be even higher. Not many players have gotten that far yet."

"So no one has any intelligence on the dungeon yet?"

"There's some." The player pointed to a small village away from the temple. "Players have managed to bring an NPC tribe up to friendly, and they've given some hints as to what awaits us in the Temple."

"What do we know, then?"

"It's the first of its kind. It's an Epic Dungeon."

"An Epic Dungeon?"

"Dungeons, as you know, are filled with many pathways, and end with a boss battle. Epic Dungeons are more straight-forward. They have a path set for the players to follow, though in this case, it's one of many paths. The hallmark of an Epic Dungeon is this though: that they contain multiple bosses."

"Multiple bosses?" Kirito asked. "That wounds hard. Are they expected to clear one boss on one day, and another later, or is it meant to happen all in one go?"

"This is the first of its kind. But we have learned from the tribe that there is a lockout. Once players enter it, they cannot escape, not even with teleportation, until the final boss is defeated. In addition, new players entering can only enter through a different pathway, so they won't be able to catch up until the final boss. It's going to be extremely dangerous."

"How high are the rest of the monsters in this zone?"

"High fifties, like me," the player said. "The temple is something of a mystery. No one knows why such a high level objective is in the middle of this zone."

"Perhaps it intends for large groups of players to work together."

"Even still, the guards on the outside use high damage AoE attacks that are dangerous for even large groups of players."

"We'll see about that."

The player laughed at him, and shook his head. "Not with that gear you won't. The guards and presumably everything in the temple use fire sorcery. And they appear to be masters of it. Fire spells deal a lot of damage, and you wouldn't want to go in wearing anything but fire resistant gear to reduce the damage, like Aquasteel or Flamewoven Cloth."

"Where can I get some? I'll need to supply my whole group."

"There's not a lot of it available for sale yet. This zone's discovery is relatively new. Aquasteel is harvested from scraps in the lakes in this zone. And a tailor with knowledge of sorcery can learn how to make Flameweave from the NPC tribe."

"We'll have to head that way then."

* * *

><p>Agil dumped another load of Aquasteel shards into the kiln. The group was at the NPC village, which was populated by humanoid pseudo-elementals. They were human in shape, but partially formed of earth and plants.<p>

The forge they had made used magically enhanced fire to heat up the Aquasteel. Once melted, Lisbeth poured them into her casts, and started forging the group's new gear.

Meanwhile, Asuna was learning how to craft Flameweave cloth, and forming it into the gear that the rest of the players needed. As far as they knew, there was no way to create a leather material with a high flame resistance, so those who previously only wore leather now just wore cloth.

"Alright," Eulsam said, returning to Kirito and the others at the forge. "I've gathered my intel, and learned about as much as I think I can about the temple."

"Alright, we're listening," Klein said.

"Like Kirito initially told us, it's an epic level dungeon, with multiple bosses and multiple pathways. I've collected a series of quests to slay different bosses and claim artifacts from within the temple, and that gave me some additional info. There's three paths into this dungeon. The main gate to the southwest, a side gate to the east, and back passageway through the north, hidden in a cave on the mountain. The climb into the back entrance is rather treacherous, and I think, not worth the risk in taking. The east gate is actually more of a trap."

"A trap?" Silica asked.

"Yes. In the eastern courtyard there lies a dragon that is a much higher level than even the final boss. They believe that once the final boss is destroyed, the dragon will leave the temple grounds and go elsewhere."

"Looks like we're taking the southeastern entrance, then," Kirito said.

"That's the plan. At each entrance is an exact copy of the first boss. Cinderguard must be defeated before the temple can open up. Players have engaged and fled from him before. It is a huge pseudo-elemental who wears thick armor and wields a two-handed mace. It's a combination melee and spellcaster, so expect a lot of close-to-medium range fire attacks when we go up against him. Once he's down, we can enter the dungeon, and then we get locked in."

"Once we're locked into the dungeon, we won't be able to escape, not even through teleportation, and other players won't be able to enter in after us." Kirito equipped his near gear, and started practicing with his new swords.

"That's right," Eulsam said. "So we need to make sure we go in ready to fight, and stock plenty of food and health potions. We will even want to bring in food and water in case it takes more than one day to safely clear the dungeon. And safety will be our first priority. The next boss we will face is Flame Battalion. They will appear as a legion of armored pseudo-elementals. There was clues that there would be a surprise mechanic to the fight, so we need to develop a strategy for various situations before going in. Then, there's the Dragon Slayer. He possesses a shield made of dragon scales. His shield is completely impervious to magical attacks. So during that fight, Leafa should focus on only healing and shielding."

"Hai," Leafa said.

"And finally, the final boss is a bit of a curve ball. It's actually two bosses in the same room. Pyyraus, the Flame Priestess is a flame sorcerer, and a master of flame magic. She will open the battle by summoning Flareradra, the avatar of the god of fire. Flareradra is an elemental, which, as we know, is completely immune to magical attacks except for those of a variety directly countering it. Since we only have arcane magic on our side, we'll have to whittle it down with melee attacks. It is a huge flame serpent, and will use its body to create barriers on the field."

"So we could be pinned down in a bad spot, or separated by it. What should we do then?" Asuna asked.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure. If you're alone, focus on defending yourself, and don't stop to strike even if you think you find a good opening to attack. Wait till other players can back you up again. Pyyraus will avoid going into melee range with players, and try to stay at a distance, attacking with fireballs. She will also conjure a shield for herself, defending her from magic attacks periodically. The fireballs work the same as we saw with Red-Handed, but will be significantly more powerful. I want to try and have either me or Kirito on her at all times, to throw her aim off and interrupt her attacks. Sinon…"

"Hai?"

"We also now know that the fireballs will explode on impact with any object, so you can shoot them with arrows before they come down to keep them from hitting us."

* * *

><p>As the group approached the Cinderguard, players began to take notice. Many got close to them, but merely watched as they trained against the hard monsters in the area. Just before reaching the boss guard of the temple, they stopped and rested, making sure they had all of the positive buffs they could get.<p>

A small crowd had formed around them, to watch. They were hopeful, but many doubted that they would actually succeed in opening the temple up.

"Alright," Kirito said. "Into position!"

Everyone spread out, so that no one was too close to an ally. The ranged players and spellcasters were in the back, and the melee fighters were closer. Agil and Lisbeth, the group's tanks, were closest, each on just about opposite sides of the guard.

"All ready?" Kirito asked from his position. Everyone in turn sounded off their ready.

"Lisbeth," Agil said. "You want first attack?"

She took a breath, and nodded. "Pulling now!" she said, charging in and leaping into a strike, hitting the stationary Cinderguard on the side of its foot. It activated, and pulled its mace out, turning to face Lisbeth.

Lisbeth held up her shield as the club came down over her head. It impacted hard, and she took a small bit of damage, but withstood the blow. Sinon started shooting, and Leafa focused only on healing, using a very minor heal to keep Lisbeth at full health.

Asuna was first on the attack for the melee players. She charged and struck the monster with her spear. It pierced its leg, and then she pulled back. Kirito and Eulsam were next, both jumping in at once making high count hit combos against it.

As they were moving back, the Cinderguard swung its mace wide over the ground towards Lisbeth. It didn't hit her directly, but a splash and rain of fire shot out over her, hitting her and several players behind her.

Leafa was quick with a group heal, bringing everyone's health back up. As she did this, Agil pulled the monster off of Lisbeth, and held it on him. He used his mace to parry the giant's attacks.

Klein was next up. He gripped his sword, and in a lightning fast movement, moved past the monster to its other side. His sword was out and back in its sheath in the blink of an eye. The monster took a decent amount of damage from the strike. This was his special attack.

Xaela went in next, slashing at the monster with her two-hander, and then doubling back. Silica went in, and did her hits, followed by Sampson.

This pattern continued on. The monster would strike with a wave of flames on occasion, and the blast would have done a great deal of damage against the lower level players, but to this, high level group of properly geared and prepared veterans, it was actually a little easy.

Before long, the boss was down, and stumbled to the grass. Players who were watching the fight all cheered on Kirito and his group. Many afterwards rushed up to them, and started to offer to join their party.

"The more people we bring into the dungeon, the better," Eulsam said.

Kirito agreed, but only accepted offers from players of a higher level. By the time they moved onto the next boss, they had a good sized group of eighteen. The maximum party size for the dungeon was twenty-five.

While they shared the battle plan, Kirito's core group rested up and restored their vitals. Soon, they were ready to move on.

Flame Battalion was a challenge. When they first entered, they face an army of monsters. As the fight carried on though, the battle changed.

Kirito stopped fighting as he saw it. Three of the downed monsters shook, and suddenly all merged into one larger monster. In his head, he developed a strategy, and spoke to Eulsam during the fight.

"When three of them die, they merge to form a larger one. I have a feeling that the larger ones will do the same."

"I did a head count when we entered. There were eighty-one of them in all."

"We should be careful about killing them in a specific order. Always target the largest ones, and that way we'll be fighting a smaller number of bigger targets the whole battle. Whereas, if we target smaller ones, the larger ones will stack in numbers."

"Good plan," Eulsam said. "Everyone!" Now he was shouting. "Focus all of your firepower on the biggest target!"

The first larger target was then mobbed by the mass of players. It's health was drained quickly, and when it went down, it stayed down, and the players repeated the process.

The larger targets didn't come back up until three of them were dead. Those three reformed into an even larger opponent, and everyone focused their attacks on it.

While they did so, Lisbeth, Agil and another tank who joined them pulled the smaller ones away from the fight, allowing the players to focus their attacks.

This size of monster though had a new ability. It spat flames on the party, making the now two healers have to focus more on their efforts. It wasn't too much damage.

The process went on again. Another third tier mob went up, and went down, and then another. These three then formed into a much large mob. It would be more challenging.

While the tanks held off the smaller ones, leading them around in circles, the group of melee damage dealers was in trouble. All of the sudden, the huge mob performed a whirlwind maneuver, and dealt heavy damage to all of its enemies. The players scattered, at low health, and were forced to dodge incoming attacks.

The huge monster then turned to attack the healers. Kirito, despite being at low health from the attack, yelled out a battle cry, and charged for it. He leapt up, and slashed at it with dual blades, and landed on the ground in front of it.

Asuna charged in after him, attacking from the opposite side, and then running. Everyone had left its side before its next whirlwind, and this gave the healers time to heal everyone up.

"Melee!" Kirito shouted. "Form two groups! Only one should be attacking at a time!"

They followed his lead. Half of them would attack until the whirlwind, and then they would all run for cover until healed once it happened.

"Mana at fifty percent!" Leafa shouted.

"Forty-two percent!" the other then followed suite.

Luckily, this first huge monster was near death, and it only took a single wave of attacks to finish bringing it down.

"We'll never be able to fight two more of those things… and then the boss right afterwards," Eulsam said to Kirito.

"We'll slow down our attacks," Kirito said. "Melee! Keep switching on the smaller mobs too! When you're off of them, stay back and let your health regenerate automatically."

They did this, and it aided the healers in conserving mana. It still was not a sustainable model, however. Once the next set of second tier monsters started, Kirito changed the strategy. "Okay, now split into three groups and keep up switching. Healers! Only heal the tanks now. Take this time to regenerate your mana!"

Though the melee was now more divided, they had more chances to heal up on their own. This left their hit points slowly draining, however, and they were beginning to avoid combat if they could.

"Mana back at sixty percent, Kirito!" Leafa shouted.

"Fifty-five percent!" the other healer said.

"Back to the two group strategy. Healers heal up the melee!" As the battle raged on, the tanks' jobs got easier and easier. Then, they got the second third tier monster up and ready to fight.

They did the same strategy as before, and brought the monster down without any close calls. "There's less mobs to fight now! Keep it up, and split back into three groups!" Kirito was keeping an eye on party mana. Their two healers weren't going to make it at this rate, with their mana hovering around ten percent now. "Asuna! Switch to healing."

Asuna nodded, and left the front to join the healers.

"I can switch, too!" another player shouted.

"Do it!" Kirito said. "Break into two groups. Group B heal now while group A restores mana!"

When it came time for the last huge monster to be brought down, Kirito addressed the group. "We're doing good. Everyone's alive! These three big monsters are going to form up into the boss after this. It will probably have a new ability, so be ready for it. Melee back into three groups. Asuna get back on melee. Each melee group should follow a tank in and out of melee range. Tanks, coordinate it!"

"Understood, commander!" Lisbeth said. "I got first in. Agil second. We'll fall back as soon as the first AoE hits us!"

When the boss formed, they were ready. Each healer assigned themselves to melee group. The cycle of attacking and healing worked out well for them, and the rinse and repeat of attacks brought the giant down.

The group all got together, and rested. "Next boss," Eulsam said, addressing everyone. "Has a shield rending it immune to magic attacks. So if our spellcasters can switch to another weapon, or focus on healing, do so now."

They traveled through the temple grounds, slaughtering the trash that waited them. Compared to the boss, they were easy kills. They soon approached the inner temple's doors, and before them stood another guard. This was a giant, armored soldier. And he wielded a sword and a shield.

"This is it," Kirito said. "The next boss. Expect more whirlwind abilities and cleaving attacks. Also expect better defenses."

"All ready?" Eulsam shouted. Everyone in turn shouted out a ready.

"Let's do this!" Kirito shouted, leading the charge into the courtyard. As soon as they went in, the boss moved into an attack. "Whirlwind, stay back!"

The boss spun around before any of them got close however, and moved through the group, damaging everyone all at once. There was screams and cries of panic, but no deaths. Many were below fifty percent health, including Lisbeth, whom the boss chose as his main target.

It swung its sword down while Lisbeth didn't have her guard up, and it would have killed her had it not been for the quick reaction time of Leafa, the healer. She threw up a shield, and stopped the first strike.

Lisbeth was frozen in fear for a moment, but then shook herself out of it as she saw her health go back up. She started blocking and dodging the boss's attacks after that, and the healers had time to bring the rest of the group up.

"Okay!" Kirito shouted. "He moves during his whirlwind, so spread out and don't stand in a line!"

As Lisbeth wore down, Agil took the lead, holding the boss against him while Lisbeth was healed up. Before long, another whirlwind came, but players were ready. They all moved away from his direction of travel, and healers threw up shields around players caught in the line of fire.

After this whirlwind, the boss turned towards Kirito, chosen at random, and swung its sword through the air. Waves of fire were flung at him, and expanded as they went on, dealing damage to lots of players. A total of three waves were shot out.

As the healers healed them back up, their mana started to falter again. "If he turns towards you," Eulsam shouted after seeing this. "Try to face it away from others so less players get hit!"

Kirito got up from the ground, and charged into attack. "No kidding! It's almost down though!" The boss's health was already nearing twenty percent. It didn't even land in another whirlwind before dying.

The group stopped again to rest up and restore their vitals.

"The next room is the last two bosses," Eulsam said. "We'll have to fight them both at once. The spellcaster will shield herself, and focus on tossing fireballs. Ranged players can make them explode in mid-air before they land on the ground. The other boss is a huge fire serpent. It will take a long time to bring down, and will cut players off from each other. Try to play defensively if you find yourself alone."

When they opened the doors into the inner sanctum, they noticed the room was very large, and built into a cave. At one edge of the room, a woman wearing a robe was bowing before a cauldron. Her name tag read "Pyyraus."

"Looks like the fight starts as soon as we get close… maybe even when we attack," Asuna said.

"You have come to the wrong place," Pyyraus said. She stood up, and turned to face the group. "If you wish to live. The god of fire will be born into the world. And you will witness his birth. Bow down and worship him, and he will grant you with his eternal flame. Or… you may continue fighting, and die. All will burn before Salamandraus, the God of Fire!"

"Or it starts now…" Asuna muttered.

Pyyraus turned back to the cauldron, and muttered an incantation. Suddenly, the flames climbed, and all the walls and the ceiling were covered in it. "You waste your breath Pyyraus," a voice said. "They serve the nature god, our enemies. Their forests will burn under my great flames. But first, these heroes will burn… fight, if you dare. You face my spawn!"

The flames all appeared to drip down at the center of the room. They formed a pile, and then the piled unfolded and hissed. Its head raised, and it took on the appearance of a huge, fiery snake.

"Get ready," Kirito shouted. "They could attack at any moment. Everyone split into your groups!" The players all divided themselves into their three groups, and prepared for battle. All but Eulsam and Kirito, who moved to the side, ready to charge for Pyyraus.

The fight began as the snake unwound, and its body slid itself between all of the player groups. Its head, which was its attacking point, reared up over Lisbeth's group. Kirito and Eulsam both charged at Pyyraus as she started fighting. The ranged players all stayed on the edge of the ring.

The flames of the serpent distorted the air, creating a vision problem unforeseen by the group. The ranged players took an accuracy penalty when making their shots. Sinon was the first to start shooting, and they all aimed for the beast's head their first time around.

Eulsam was the first to attack Pyyraus. She conjured a shield around herself at first, and Kirito and Eulsam had to strike at that first, not hitting or damaging her. In that time, she flung a total of three fireballs into the battlefield.

Lisbeth took the head of the creature, and used her shield and sword to fight. Mostly, she only dodged and blocked the strikes of the serpent's head. It lashed out like lightning though, and got licks on her easily. The melee players with her attacked the body wherever they could, the head moving too fast to hit.

The other groups did the same. Each hit of course only dealt minimal damage. Elementals were among the hardest creatures to fight because of their high resistances and flat out immunities. One like this was also extremely fast, and had high hit points to begin with.

"Incoming!" Kirito was heard shouting over the flames. The second unforeseen problem with the battle had come to light. The crackling of flames would make it hard to communicate.

Sinon hear though, with her extreme perception skills. She fired an arrow at one of the fireballs. It alerted the groups on the ground. Each group that had been targeted was protected by a magical barrier.

Without warning, the snake moved, weaving and slithering around the field. Some players couldn't move out of their spot, and as it moved through a melee group, that group was forced to split off. One was left without a healer.

The head now struck at the third tank in the party. This was fortunately a group that still had a healer. Kirito and Eulsam had to move around quickly to keep up with Pyyraus, and now with her shield gone, they took her attention, keeping her from casting fireballs. She did shoot flames at them however, dealing some damage.

The fight raged on, and by the time this phase ended, and the snake moved again, the third tank was knocked blow fifty percent of his health. Next, the snake attacked Agil. His group had been separated. "Asuna!" he shouted. The healer previously in their party was gone. Luckily, Asuna was there as a backup healer.

She quickly switched her gear, and healed the group.

Pyyraus brought up another shield, and threw three more fireballs. The archers were ready now. One of the fireballs escaped their sights. It landed and exploded. What followed was a series of screams. Players panicked as they stumbled fell, unable to escape the heat and the flames.

When the snake moved again, players caught glimpses of this. Asuna moved from Agil's group to try to heal up this hit group. The result was two player deaths, none of which were in Kirito's core group.

"Asuna!" Agil said. His group was unable to merge with the other as Asuna did. They were again without a healer.

Now the snake was attacking Lisbeth again. They stood strong, and weathered the assault. It got worse though. As the battle went on, the flames grew hotter, and players began to take small amounts of damage from standing near the serpent.

"We need healers with the archers!" Sinon shouted as her health began to drain.

When the snake shifted again, Asuna went to their rescue, and the weak group merged up with Agil. Asuna healed the archers as they fired at the next wave of fireballs. All were stopped this time.

"I don't think we can keep fighting separated like this," Asuna said.

Now, the serpent was striking at the third tank. "Twenty-five percent health!" he shouted. "Help!"

Asuna looked in the direction of the scream. Her mana was low.

"Hang in there, I'll move to you!" Leafa was heard over the flames.

As soon as the snake shifted again, Leafa switched groups. She left Lisbeth without a healer, though, to heal the third tank back up.

The serpent of course went for Lisbeth again. It snapped at her, and she screamed as it struck her repeatedly. Her blocks were growing weak, and her spirit and will were both draining slowly. "Leafa!"

Sampson charged in front of Lisbeth. With his low armor, he took heavy damage, but his actions probably saved Lisbeth's life. As he hit ten percent, Lisbeth took the serpent's head back onto herself, and resumed fighting it. By the time the next shift in movements came, both Lisbeth and Sampson were severely wounded.

Another round of fireballs. One of them nearly hit Lisbeth's group. By the grace of whatever gods existed in this place, although certainly not this god of fire, Asuna had bolted to their group, and threw up a shield. Then she got to healing the two of them, and then the rest of the group.

"This is bad," Kirito said.

Eulsam nodded. "Kirito, you got this. I'm going to tank the snake!"

"What?" Kirito shouted. During the shift, Eulsam rolled away into an empty space, and got the attention of the serpent's head. Kirito now was left to fight Pyyraus solo, which meant more fireballs dropping on the party.

One of them struck down again. More screams, followed by pings of deaths. "Mana at thirty percent!" Leafa shouted.

"Twenty-two percent!" shouted another.

"Eighteen percent!"

"Forty-four percent!" Asuna shouted.

Kirito finally broke through the shield, and was attacking Pyyraus with all of his strength.

"Forget the snake!" Eulsam shouted as he took on the serpent's head from a distance. No one was sure how he was managing to solo tank the boss, but it was working. "We have to stop those fireballs! All DPS, move to attack Pyyraus on the next switch!"

"And weak players back to the archers! Make sure a healer is with them!" Kirito shouted.

The switch came, and the worst possible thing happened. Asuna made a break for Pyyraus, but was caught short, and thrown against a wall as the serpent's head struck her! She looked around, and saw no one. "Kirito!" she shouted, a desperate cry for help.

"Asuna!" Kirito shouted back. He switched targets, trying to cut down the snake as fast as possible. He wasn't surfacing near enough damage.

"Kirito!" Eulsam shouted. "Our best chance is to focus on Pyyraus!" Kiriot ignored him. "We have to fight as a group, Kirito! We need you!"

The snake's head struck down on Asuna, and knocked her around again. Her health was below twenty percent, and dropping from the flames. The snake went to strike, and she threw up a magical barrier, blocking that strike. "Mana almost gone!"

Kirito blinked, and stared through the flames. He could make out Asuna on the other side. He then braced himself, and charged right through the serpent's body. It was possible, but very dangerous to move through an elemental's body like he did. He took serious damage, and came out on fire. His will and spirit were flashing high, and he leapt into an attack, striking the serpent's head and knocking it down to the floor as it attacked Asuna.

Pyyraus was unable to shoot her fireballs with so many players on her. But she dealt tremendous damage with her close range attacks. The healers in that group were able to keep everyone alive, but their mana was nearly drained.

Back on the edge, with Sinon and the archers, the lone healer brought the weak players up in health.

The serpent struck Kirito now. His health in this move was now as low as Asuna's. One more attack and Asuna threw a shield up over him to defend him.

This turned the snake's threat back to Asuna, and it attacked her again. Its head reared back, and launched at her with lightning reflexes, and Kirito was moving to take the blow himself, and save her.

* * *

><p>In the real world, Kirito and Asuna's families both watched the videos within their loved ones' hospital rooms. They were incredibly nervous as the battle went on. What was at first confidence and genuine enjoyment at their success facing previous bosses had turned to fear.<p>

Kirito and Asuna, the heroes of Sword Art Online. They were famous in the real world. And as things became desperate, their feeds were streamed on live television. Their fans and supporters all over the world watched the battle.

The tension was at an all-time high as everyone watched the basilisk's head lashing towards Asuna's camera. In the bottom right of the screen, health was reading low. Mana was drained completely.

It looked like it may be the end.


	13. Chapter 13: Lost and Found

_Month 1, Day 31_

Michiko sat on the edge of a fountain in a small town. It was in the main courtyard, and players were passing all around her. Night had fallen, and she wasted her day away by wandering around the area, looking up at the sky, and looking down in the dirt.

As time went on, the town emptied out. Most players were sleeping. Michiko got up, and headed to the town's edge, looking out at the distance. Then, she saw something. Out there, along the road, riders wearing black clothes were riding up on the town.

She turned and ran back, entering the inn and shouting, waking everyone up. "A group's coming!" she shouted. "It's not safe! Get up!" She ran through the halls, screaming, and players were slowly wandering outside to look. Soon, it became clear that they were under attack.

Within seconds, the Laughing Coffin raiders were storming the town, going into buildings and killing everyone they found. Michiko hid in a room, but her cover was soon lost as one of the enemy barged in, and saw her. She screamed, and jumped out of the window, landing on the ground and taking some damage.

It was a mistake. More people were fighting and dying outside. She stayed low, and tried to move back into some cover. She hid at a tree, and a pair of combatants had fought their way over to her. The Laughing Coffin assailant knocked the town's defender's weapon away, and it landed near Michiko.

Then, that man was killed by his attacker. While the player who killed him loomed over his corpse, Michiko grabbed the sword, and stabbed the Laughing Coffin in the back. She struck again and again. Blood splattered, and she didn't stop until her target's health bar was down at zero percent.

Covered in blood, she dropped to her knees, and cried. The green cursor floating above her had been dyed red.

_Year 2, Month 3, Day 1_

In some distant zone, Michiko held up her weapon to stop an incoming attack. The beast she was fighting was like a giant lizard-like creature. It had six arms, and was humanoid. Each of its arms held a weapon, and it attacked her furiously.

It was not just any creature. This monster had a name: Rai'zha, the lizard demon. It was a boss, and she fought it alone. It moved quickly, and got around her and struck many times, but her defensive stance was far superior.

Her health was at seventy-two percent, and the creature's at eighty-one. And now, she had memorized its attack pattern. When it struck again, she parried the attack, and then another, and then lunged forward, bashing it with the front of her weapon.

It was knocked away at first, but lurched right back into an attack. That was her chance. It swung with its weapon, and she spun, turning outside of its next attack after that. She face its backside, and made three, four, and then five direct blows against her target. It stood, its health still draining, and then dropped when it hit zero.

She smiled, and looked at her rewards. Then, she frowned, and shook her head. With a scream, she left the dungeon, and right away went on to fight more wild creatures.

For weeks, she did this. She killed them, over and over. When she finished everything she could in one zone, she moved onto the next. And finally, one day, she just stopped.

She dropped to her knees at a lake, and looked down in the water. Her weapon fell to the ground, and she stayed there, without moving a muscle for a whole day, and a whole night.

The next morning though, a stranger approached her. It was another player, and he held a fishing rod. He looked at her funny, and tapped her shoulder. She didn't move. "Mokatso," he said. "That's your name, isn't it?"

She turned, and looked up at him.

He took a moment to read her stats. Her endurance was drained, and she had buffs labeled tired and hungry. He did the most logical thing he could think of, and dropped her lunch at his feet. "Take it," he said. "You need to eat." To him, her level was hidden. Monsters and players alike had their levels hidden when they were so far above your own. To the man though, many players were like this. He was a lower level.

"Leave me alone," she said. Her voice was muffled.

The man sat down next to her, and cast out his line. "I can't do that," he said. "You're the only one I've had to talk to in weeks. It's lonely out here."

She didn't respond. The day went on. He fished, she didn't touch the food he had given her. Once night began to fall again, he got up, and started to leave. "I'm going back to my cabin," he said. "I would hate it if you stayed out here alone… you don't plan on dying, do you?"

She stayed put. He sighed, and started walking. "I'll come check on you before I sleep tonight…"

Hours passed, and when he returned, she had taken off her armor, and stored all of her affects in her inventory. The food he had brought was eaten, and she laid on her side, looking miserably out onto the lake.

"Michiko," he said. "No one else ever comes to this zone… I guess you're Mokatso without the armor."

She still did not say anything. He sat down next to her. "It's late out… this is a safe zone with no monsters, and even fewer players. It's a tiny little spot between here and there. No monsters or players are going to come to kill you here. You'll have to starve, I'm afraid."

After giving her a few more moments to answer, he sighed and kept talking. "My name is Shao," he said. "I've been out here ever since I found this place. It's isolated and so far away from any players. I can be alone here… and I don't ever fear any danger. It's even safer than many places you can go to in the real world."

She blinked, but that was it. He couldn't even see it.

"I guess my point is that… this is a place for rest, and peace. You have time to think and be on your own here. If you could try to do that before you give up, maybe you will change your mind." He got up again. "Well, I can't make you do anything, based on just your level. But my cabin doors are always open."

He started to leave, and as he did, she got up. He smiled at her. She didn't look at him, but nodded, and followed him to his home. It was not far, and the journey was short.

Once she got inside, she took a seat at his table, and he fed her freshly cooked fish without asking. "It's good," he said. "I've spent my time here maxing out my hospitality related skills. I can fish. I can cook… I can make things for you."

She still did not speak. This continued on for a whole week. Every day, he would talk to her, and she would do nothing but eat, listen, and sleep. On the eight day of her visit, he said to her, "You're alone. And at such a high level, with pretty dangerous areas all around you. I've been thinking about your situation, trying to figure out why you're depressed. What makes the most sense to me is that you had friends out here with you, but something happened to them. Something bad."

He waited a few moments again. He always left breaks for her to speak if she ever felt so inclined. "When I was a young boy, we had a family pet. A dog. I loved that animal. I went off to university when the time came, and I grew apart from it. I saw her get old. It was sad. She lost her sight, and her hearing. Finally, one day, my parents decided to have her put down. It was the right thing to do… if we didn't, she might have died some horrible way, and we couldn't have been with her. I was with her when it happened. I was sad. The night before, I drank to excess. I choked up and cried until the early morning hours. But after it happened, I felt better."

She looked at him, but only for a moment.

"I know my dog probably isn't the best comparison for your loss, whatever it is… but I moved on. I was able to cry, and I fell down for a while. I let my emotions pour out, and it helped me get past it. I am told by people who have had a loss, that the longer they hold onto something, the more painful it becomes. It gets blocked up inside of you, until it warps your entire life out of shape. It destroys you… But no matter how long they held on, it was always worth letting go, and moving on."

She looked down again, at her food.

He was about to get up to go to bed, but was stopped. He heard her as she began to cry, and moved closer to her. "It's alright," he said. "You can cry… it's safe."

For the next week, she improved, little by little. She still never spoke, but was able to be happy at times. She went with him when he fished, and fished with him. On the fourteenth day of her stay, she took a deep breath, and looked up at him from her spot at the table.

"I have to go," she said.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know…"

"Where were you going before?"

"I'll find out when I get there," she said. "I may never make it."

"It's usually best to know where you're going before you leave some place."

"I don't think I ever really knew where I was to begin with," she explained. "I've been going somewhere for a long time, and haven't ever really been able to figure out what it is I'm trying to find. I thought I found it finally, but it turned out that that wasn't it at all."

"Being lost is usually quite a journey. Some might say it's the hardest, but it is also the most fulfilling. What was it that you thought you had found?"

"A long time ago, someone took something from me… something they could never get back and that I could never take back from them. When I finally found that person, I tried to take it anyways. When I did, I realized that instead I had just been slowly losing more and more the longer I searched for it. When I finally thought I found it, I had lost more than ever."

"Ahh," he said. "Revenge… they say you should dig two graves. You almost did, didn't you?"

She nodded, and got up from the table. "But that wasn't what I was looking for, so I have to keep looking."

"Do you have any idea what you're looking for now?" he asked.

She thought about it, and shook her head. "But I think this time I know where to look…"

"That's certainly a start…"

She put on her gear, and started to go towards the door.

"Why do you wear the mask?" he asked.

"What mask?"

"It hides your name, your face, your voice… no one can see the real you?"

She didn't have an answer.

"Maybe," he said. "What you're looking for… is yourself."

"What's your name?" she asked.

"You already know."

"No… your real name…"

"I'm not sure I want to say," he said. "I am Shao now."

"I don't know why I wear a mask… why do you?"

He smiled and had a short laugh. "When I find out, I'll be sure to tell you."

After that, she left the cabin in the safe woods between two high level zones. She went back to fighting… to searching. She fought through more high level monsters, and headed southeast. She ran through mountains, and then desert, and finally she found herself running into an oasis that turned into a jungle. On the other side of that, was a clearing… a flatlands with a single mountain at its center.

"There," she thought. "I can feel it…"

When she reached high level monsters, she slaughtered them. And when she reached the mountain itself, she found a pathway that led up. She started to climb.

Along the way, she saw across the zone. At its far southwestern end, it stopped, giving way to the Dune Sea below. She remembered it. Out there, far in the distance at the edge of her vision, she could see a tiny oasis, and farther south, once she got even higher, she saw where it led into a pine forest.

After stumbling and nearly falling a dozen times, she found herself on a flat surface. Before her stood a giant pseudo-elemental that wielded a club. She looked at its level, and smiled. "Nothing…" she said.

She charged at it, and engaged. She blocked its swing with her weapon, and then deflected the attack behind her. As she did, she slid on her knees under its legs. She jumped onto the cliff side, and off of it, landing on the creature's back. Once there, she slashed away, until she brought the giant down.

Then, she headed into the cave. Monsters attacked her. There were more pseudo-elementals or rock and flame, and all manner of beasts. They were mopped up quickly, and she spent no more than a few seconds fighting each group.

In a huge room, she stopped. On the other side was a door, but it was shut. "Boss," she muttered to herself.

The room had in it pools of lava on the ground. From one emerged a large, worm like creature not unlike the Sand Wyrm Kirito and his team faced many months ago. It opened up with a fireball, shooting it at her. She dodged it, and used rocks to gain a height advantage, and slashed at the creature's head.

The process was repeated, and with her skill, she dodged its attacks. It sank below the surface of the lava, and she went into a defensive position. It rose again, and lava spilled out at her feet from a nearby pool. She jumped back from it, and hurled her weapon at the enemy. It hit it, and bounced off, landing right back near her.

While the monster attacked, she picked it up, and repeated the process of jumping into an attack. After a few minutes of this, the beast was done for, and the door opened.

She followed a series of more tunnels, fighting more mobs. Soon, she started treading on a spider's web. A huge spider attacked her, and it appeared of bright, glowing orange, as if it were freshly smelted steel.

With eight legs, it made several attacks on her for each one she made. She was hit more than once by its strikes, but the worst hit came from a fiery webbing it launched at her. She was stuck, and taking damage. It charged her, but in a moment of good fortune, she cut herself free, and ducked. As the beast was above her, she struck upwards, hitting weak points.

She didn't stop. She slashed and slashed until it was dead. When the boss was finished, she kept running, drinking health potions on the go until she was back to full health.

The next boss stood in a seemingly empty chamber. It was an elemental of stone and fire. This fight was tough. She attacked, and did minimal damage. When she finally brought it down, it all reformed once more.

It threw rocks, and spewed fire, and her gear was now at low durability. In one final attack, she lunged forward, jumping through a blast of flames. Her helmet was destroyed, but she felled the elemental in that blow.

She landed on its remains, her long hair covering her face. "Is that it?" she asked herself. She looked at the corpse of the beast, its level still visible. "Hah… too weak." She looked through all of her rewards thus far. The gear some of these monsters dropped, she used. It had fireproofing which she thought for sure she would need. Her own gear was also hopelessly outdated.

Using a potion of fire-resistance, she doused her weapon, and enchanted it with the potion's effects. "Where to… where to?" She looked around. Then, she heard it. A scream. A cry for help.

"This," she said as she ran toward the call. "This is who I am!" She cut down monsters along the way, and soon she reached what appeared to be an opening in the cave. Light shone from the tunnel's apparent in. "I help people! I stand for justice… I stand… for hope!" As she leapt out from the opening and into a battle unknown, she cried out. "I am the Black Warden!"

She fell directly on top of a large, burning serpent boss, cutting it and dealing lots of damage. On top of her high level, her new gear, her enchanted weapon… her spirit and her will were reading three hundred percent. The head of the beast slammed hard into the floor.

It was by no means a killing blow, but the serpent shifted its position once more. It left Asuna and Kirito safe on the side. Michiko, after making her attack, sprung upwards and let out a battle cry. A fireball was coming down on her, and she smashed it with her weapon. The resulting explosion knocked her down, and there, she faced Pyyraus.

Kirito and Asuna were so stunned by the heroism that they didn't even move at first. "Kirito!" Eulsam shouted. "Health!"

The two of them downed health potions. Healers were focusing on the party now. Michiko was alone before Pyyraus.

"Kirito," Asuna said. "That weapon… there's only one person it could be."

Kirito nodded, and opened his player menu. "Player command! Invite player 'Michiko." A moment later, Michiko appeared in their party. The list of party members was organized by level. At the top were Kirito and Eulsam. Now, Michiko went right up to the top of the list.

Pyyraus had begun casting more fireballs. Michiko charged her. The fireballs were stopped in midair by arrows, and Michiko brought the sorceress's shield down quickly.

This was by no means the end of the fight, however. The snake shifted again, this time cornering Michiko on her own. Pyyraus was in a separate zone, and Eulsam, Kirito and Asuna had gotten together in time to meet her.

They attacked all with great fury. The Serpent's lighting quick attacks struck at Michiko. She was hit, and singed. Her health was dropping bit by bit, but she endured. She did not only block and dodge attacks, but parried one or two, and countered with her weapon.

Pyyraus suddenly cried out, and was defeated, dropping to the ground at the hands of her three attackers. The serpent shifted its attack pattern.

With Pyyraus defeated, the fiery basilisk encircled all players, the whole ring, and began to constrict itself slowly. The players had to step inwards, with less and less space as they continued to dodge and attack.

"Michiko," Kirito said. "You're alive."

She smiled. "You idiots!" she then shouted. "The only way to kill a snake proper…" She leapt up right after the head struck at Lisbeth. "Is to cut off its head!" She slammed down, the front of her shield with its fire resistance, acted as a barrier to flames, and therefore was able to drive the head down.

"Sampson!" Kirito shouted.

Sampson leapt into action. When he came down, his axe struck hard at the snake, right behind its head and cut it off with a final, critical blow. The boss writhed and squirmed around, its body slowly smoldering out and turning to ash.

In the area above the players, a pop up appeared. "Congratulations! Temple of Fire: Cleared! First! Epic Dungeon Clear!"

The group all cheered and congratulated each other after healing up. Xaela ran up afterwards, and hugged Michiko tight. "You're safe…" she said.

Michiko nodded, and hugged her back.

* * *

><p>In the real world, the relief and excitement of Vearth fans was in the air. The families of those who survived embraced one another. In the IVRTF Observation Base, there was a little celebration of their own.<p>

For those who had lost someone though, there was pain. To date, not a single resurrection item had been found. They would keep their loved ones on life support however, hoping that somehow, that would change. It would not be so.

* * *

><p>"So, Michiko," Kirito said. After the battle, they returned to Duneclimb, where players hailed them as conquerors and heroes. "You're a higher level than any of us now. What's your secret?"<p>

She shrugged. "With such an emphasis placed on PVP play, I didn't think I'd even keep up, to be honest. I suppose solo'ing dungeons gave me a bit of a boost."

"Yeah," Eulsam said. "You fought multiple bosses on the way. Your experience and rewards must have been ridiculous."

"Where did you go, anyways?" Asuna asked.

"Everywhere," she said. She sighed, and looked down. They didn't even know why she left. "You see… that Laughing Coffin I hunted down was no ordinary PK'er to me, or maybe he was. I thought he wasn't though. I thought he was the one who killed my sister. I realized it wasn't him, and… I just couldn't handle it. I'm so sorry." She started crying a little. "I wish I'd never left. I shouldn't have. I was angry at myself, and I couldn't bear the weight of my guilt."

Lisbeth patted her back as she sat down next to her. "It's alright," she said. "You're here now, and obviously, you're feeling better."

Michiko wiped the tears from her eyes, and nodded. "I do… it took a long time, but I got past it. I promise though… I'm never leaving the company of my friends again."

"A wise choice," Sampson said. "Heroic in fact. No hero fights alone… or else he has not a thing to fight for."

Those words even caught Kirito's attention. He only gave it a few seconds of thought before nodding and moving on. "Now that we've cleared the hardest, biggest dungeon to date, where will we go next?"

Eulsam had stopped paying attention to the conversation to read a message he got from a guild member. "Commander General," it read. "We have discovered a Laughing Coffin base to the west of Newberg. Shall we wait for you before launching an attack?"

He thought about it, and looked at the group. They were having fun. It had been so long since hunting PK'ers that their cursors were even green again. It was his duty… their duty. Wasn't it? He closed it without responding, and rejoined the conversation.

"I heard before we left that there was a zone to the southeast of here that doesn't even have a player town in it. That means few have explored it at all. And that… means more treasures." Eulsam stood up from the table. "What say you? Adventure awaits…"

The players all looked at each other, and each nodded.

"How could we say no to that?" Klein asked. "After today, there's nothing we can't handle! Now for the real question. Do we sleep first, or should we head out right away?"

The group all rolled their eyes, and each started to leave the table. "Sleep, Klein… here, where it's safe," Silica said.

"Don't get so wrapped up in the prospect of fun that you forget that this is life and death," Agil said as he left.

"Right… it's easy sometimes, when we keep winning. I'll meet you all in the morning. And we ride for new territory!"

* * *

><p>It had been another month. The IVRTF top level agents met again for their monthly debriefing. "So let me get this straight," Director of Operations, Kojji Makatawa said. "We have hours of footage of these guys, and yet not a single clue who they are in the real world, or even the slightest idea of what it is exactly that they're after."<p>

"That is correct sir," an agent said. "We have absolutely nothing."

"They're careful, and secretive. As we know there are nearly five thousand players who requested their footage be permanently discontinued. All of them are likely those players, and we don't have the authority to resume recordings until we have direct evidence of their crimes in the game." Seijiro looked down and shook his head. "And there's a plethora of in-game mechanics to mask one's identity, so even when the ones we are watching run into them, we can't tell who they really are."

"One thing is certain," Zimmar said. "This Death Oath has the potential to be more harmful than Laughing Coffin. If this game ends, and they get out into the real world… we could be looking at a cult… at a new terror organization. These guys are seriously fucked in the head."

"We want to send warnings and information to our VIPs," Seijiro said. "But doing so risks Laughing Coffin finding out… and we already know their threat."

"Speaking of which, are we any closer to logging the players out of the game?" the director asked.

"Negative…" another agent said. "We're looking at… another year or two of trying to break their coding. They've got some real gurus on their side. A private Chinese intelligence agency made an attempt to hack just one of the LC servers. Within twenty-four hours, the entire agency's data banks were wiped clean, and their dirty laundry was aired on global media."

"And how are we on physical intelligence. Do we have any idea where their servers are, or where they might have a base of operations?"

"These guys are ghosts," another agent said. "Nothing has turned up anywhere. We'll find the illuminati before we root these bastards out."


	14. Chapter 14: Resurrection

While walking through a safer zone, alone, Kirito came across something strange. In a mountainous area, high, flat cliffs made narrow passageways through the mountains. They were high enough to block the sunshine unless it was high noon, and a dense fog covered the region.

It was early morning when Kirito came upon a small opening, and at its center, a short rock, where a stranger in a black robe, wielding a wooden staff sat. This man wore what appeared to be a plague mask, and when Kirito saw him, he tapped his staff on the ground.

"Kirito," the man said. His voice was soft, and calm. "It's nice to see you again."

Kirito blinked, and drew his dual swords. "I don't think we've met."

The man nodded, and got up from his spot. He waved his finger around in the air. "Right, right. Memory charms and all that good stuff."

"Who are you?" Kirito asked.

The man held up his finger. "I will tell you who I am in a few moments. I want to talk first."

"About what?"

"Now, normally I go on about the staff of truth nonsense, but today I'm going to try something different. I'm going to try being honest. I, Kirito, am a player killer. Your enemy."

Kirito smirked and stepped closer. "And you're meeting me alone? How kind of you."

"Before you go on and just attack me, you might want to take a look at my level." Kirito did so. The man's level was marked with question marks. He took a step back. "I'm a little too powerful for you to take head on."

"Okay," Kirito said. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yes. Anyways. Normally I tell people that this." He held up his staff. "Is the legendary weapon, the staff of truth. I have said that no one may be deceptive within fifty feet of this weapon, but that is not true. What I actually do is cast a simple truth-seeker's charm on myself before I meet people. I get them to say try and lie, and when they can't, they believe I am telling the truth."

"So I can't lie?"

"A simple test… if you want to. Try to give me a false name."

"My name is Kirito," he said. He nodded as the correct name came out of his mouth. "Okay, so you're for real. Except you can still lie, and I cannot."

"Correct," the man said. "Moving on. Our destiny is drawing closer with each passing day. How much do you know about our group, Kirito?"

"I don't know who you are."

"Ah, right." The man took off his mask, and pulled his hood off, bowing before Kirito. "I am the Black Prophet. I am the Herald of the Death Oath."

"Death Oath," Kirito said. "The player killers."

"Again, how much do you know about my order?"

"Not much," Kirito said. "You're player killers." While he talked, Kirito opened up his player menu, sending out messages to all of his friends, asking for back up. "I'm calling for help." Kirito blinked. He didn't want to say that out loud.

"I know," the man said. "And that'll be okay for reasons you'll see in a second." The man walked around Kirito. "We… the Death Oath know a vast amount of this world's great secrets. We are not very great fighters, or even very good magical combatants. We rely on our cunning, our black magic and our secrecy to fulfil our goals."

"To kill players?"

"Oh, don't be such a simpleton, Kirito. We're not some savage horde of players out for blood for the sake of blood. No, we have a reason to kill."

"What reason?"

"As I have said," the man said. "We know things. Great and terrible secrets. Many of those secrets demand blood. One of them demands quite a lot of it."

"What kind of secrets?" Kirito asked. He got a response from Eulsam, and read it out loud against his will. "Eulsam, the commander general of the Protectors is on his way with two more guild-mates, the Black Warden, Asuna and Klein."

"Thanks for the update." Kirito was growing more frustrated with his inability to keep a secret in the presence of this enemy. "And what kind of secrets? Well… they wouldn't be secrets then, now, would they?"

"I don't remember the last time I talked to you. You have the power to erase my memories. So what harm is there in telling me?" Kirito blinked, and kept talking. "It's because I'm being watched outside of the game, isn't it?" He bit his tongue, and glared at the man.

"Indeed. And they know nothing either. We opted not to be recorded. Are your friends getting close?"

Kirito nodded. "Is it a trap, or are you going to run?"

"Both." The man went up to Kirito, and smiled. Kirito didn't strike, knowing he was outmatched. He danced around him for a moment, laughing a little.

"How so?"

"Secrets…"

Kirito started sending them another message. He warned them that a trap was coming, but he didn't know what. "We'll be ready for you."

"Oh, what a pity. The charm only prevents deception. If you truly believe something is true, then that is what you will say. I have bad news for you, Kirito. No. You will not be ready for this. How much time would you say we have left?"

"Five minutes."

"Good. Five minutes. Since you will lose your memories, and those watching you can see me anyways now, I will give you this present. You may ask me any three questions, and I will tell you the absolute, complete truth. I swear it!"

"I can't believe that what you say will even be true."

"Don't miss this opportunity, Kirito."

Kirito thought about it for a moment, and nodded. He would have to be careful about which three questions he would ask though. Knowing his memory would be lost, it would be better to get a warning to his friends, or more importantly, information for the IVRTF in the real world.

"Why did you decide to meet me here?"

"I'm going to send you to kill someone for me, someone close to you. You see," the man pulled out a slip of paper. "This… is a death note. I got the name from an anime I used to watch, and it works similarly, but different. I write the name of a player on it, enchant it with my black magic, and hand it to someone. They have to physically hold it for it to take effect. And I slipped one into your coat pocket earlier… It hasn't taken effect, of course, but without your memory, you could grab it in your carelessness. It's only a matter of time."

Kirito blinked, and looked down at his pockets. He thought he may have felt a little tug earlier, but ignored it. He thought for another moment. This complicated things. "Whose name is on it? Who is my target?"

"Asuna."

Kirito froze in place. He didn't know what to do. He opened his character pane to start sending a message. Suddenly, his enemy spoke an unfamiliar language, and he became literally frozen in place, and could only speak. He wouldn't get a message out in time.

"One more question, Kirito, my greatest assassin. Better think to ask a wise one."

"Who are you?!" he shouted. "How do I break this curse?!"

"That's two questions. Only one… choose carefully."

"If I ask how to break the curse… I won't remember it to do it. If I ask your name, I won't remember that either." He thought for it.

"You have ten seconds… I need to beat a hasty retreat soon."

The only thing he could think of… is that if he got the name, the IVRTF could use it. Even know, a magic shrouded his enemy's character, hiding his name. "Shit…" Kirito then realized that his level was likely also shrouded, and he was not actually as powerful as he was led to believe.

"Five… four…"

"Your name! Give me your name!"

The man smiled. "I already have… it is written on the back of that note. Your right pocket." He snapped his fingers once, and whispered something. "You will lose your memory in ten seconds… and you will be able to move in four. Tootles." The Black Prophet fled, and vanished into the fog.

Once Kirito could move again, looked at his map. His friends were close, but not close enough. How often would he reach into his pockets once he lost memory? Often enough. At least, he thought, he could get the name if he did it now.

And so, he snatched the slip from his jacket and held it up to his eyes. "GothicGod"

Eulsam was the first to arrive. When he got there, Kirito was stuffing the paper into his pocket again. His mind was set on killing his target now. In the event that the curse was broken, the best way ensure that his mission was complete was to place it where he would have to take it out again.

"Kirito!" Eulsam said. "What is it?"

"Where is Asuna?" Kirito asked. He put his swords away, and looked up to the sky, his mind seemed to be empty.

"Kirito?" Eulsam asked, looking at him. "She's behind us. Was on another level and had to find a path down." The next to come were the two protectors. "Why, what's wrong?"

"Asuna," he said. "…is in danger."

Eulsam nodded, and turned to run back the other way, towards where he saw her. Kirito followed him, and they found Klein on the way.

When they found Asuna, she was running through a larger flat area. There was a single, dead tree behind her. Kirito ran for her immediately, and hugged her close.

"Kirito," she said. "What happened? I thought you needed help."

"I did," Kirito said. "But everything's fine now…"

Klein saw it. Kirito had pulled a knife, and was ready to use it. He felt that something was terribly wrong, and activated his special ability. In a flash, he was on the other side of Kirito, and sheathing his samurai sword. The blow knocked Kirito away, and dealt fifteen percent of his hit points in damage.

"Klein!" Asuna shouted at him. "What are you doing?"

"Something's not right," he said, turning around to face Kirito again. "He had a knife, and I think he was going to hurt you."

Kirito looked at Klein, and laughed. "I knew it was too easy…" He drew his dual swords, and lunged at Asuna, ignoring Klein.

Asuna pulled out her shield and spear, blocking his first swing. Kirito didn't even get a chance to swing again, because Asuna thrust her spear at him, and he had to roll off.

Eulsam looked at the fight unfolding, and drew his blades in turn. He leaped into combat, engaging Kirito. It would be a hard fight, though.

Kirito's swords clanged against Eulsam's. Klein and Asuna both stayed back. They didn't know what was going on, and so they didn't jump in to attack. They didn't want to kill Kirito, of course. They needed answers, first and foremost.

Eulsam was the same, he held back his direct attacks, and parried and blocked incoming ones instead. "Kirito!" he shouted. "What's happened? Why are you fighting us?"

He didn't respond, but shouted, and took advantage of the too defensive Eulsam, slashing at his side, and kicking him to the ground. Then he turned to again charge at Asuna. Klein and Asuna both fought him now.

Klein made attacks, but ones he knew Kirito would block. His objective here was to keep one of those swords busy, and focused on him. Asuna used her shield and spear combination, as she'd accessed her Valkyrie ability in the time between the Temple of Fire and now.

"Kirito!" she shouted. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to!" After blocking one attack, she pushed forward, knocking Kirito back and driving her spear at him. It grazed him, and he rolled back from his attackers.

He rolled away and into a crouch, ready to fight, and jumped at Asuna. She blocked one strike with her shield, and was hit on the side by the second. Eulsam jumped into the fray once more. One of his weapons came down and swept Kirito's feet. Kirito jumped over the attack, and struck once he landed. He hit Eulsam, and Klein went in to take his place.

Eulsam looked at the fight, and shook his head. "Guardsmen!" he shouted. "If any of our health bars drops below twenty percent, attack Kirito. Don't hold back!" The two of them nodded, and readied themselves for combat.

Kiritio ran from Asuna to deal with Klein, who foolishly chased after him. Klein went to strike, and Kirito trapped his blade between both of his, and disarmed him. Without a weapon, Klein was forced to run away as Kirito attacked him, slashing wildly. He hit him once, then once more and Klein fell to the ground. His health was now at sixty percent.

With Klein down, Eulsam charged back in. He engaged Kirito, and went back to blocking and parrying. "We need a way to bind his hands or something!"

Kirito threw one of his blades up into the air, and made a massive strike towards Eulsam. He had to use two swords to block the attack, and it knocked him off balance. When the other weapon came down, Kirito caught it, and went wild on Eulsam. He knocked his health down low, but not to the twenty percent mark. The commander general was kneeled over, dripping blood, and his senses were dulled.

While Klein was retrieving his weapon, Kirito went for Asuna. With all of his fury, he attacked. Her stance was a highly defensive one, and it was easy for her to block attacks with her large shield, but she was losing ground, and soon, Kirito had her backed against the tree, which was near a wall.

In that moment, she bashed him with her shield the second he got to close. "Where the hell is Michiko?!" Asuna shouted. Kirito got up, and Klein attacked him. He swung with his sword, but wasn't a match for the dual wielding master. Kirto stopped one attack, and struck at Klein's head, scoring a critical hit.

Klein dropped to the ground, and was now at eleven percent of his health. The two other players jumped in. One wielded an axe, the other a shield and sword. Asuna still held back, not wanting Kirito to die, and she knew that if she jumped in, even if she didn't attack Kirito directly, the other two would.

They swung and missed so many times. Kirito only did them each a good, movement impairing hit, cutting lags and knocking heads. Now, it was basically just him and Asuna.

Asuna charged at him. Her shield went up, and she steadied her spear on the top of it. It was far too predictable a move, and Kirito moved out of the way. After the charge, Asuna turned, swinging her spear wide. With its long reach, she struck Kirito, and he was forced to block, knocing the spear over his head.

Then, Asuna pulled her second weapon, a short sword, and charged at her lover. The two fought, and for a moment, she went all out. She got a hit or two in, but then went back to playing defensively. Kirito watched her. Getting past that shield would be difficult. It reminded him of the battle against Heathcliff, and he developed a strategy in his head.

He charged in, and Asuna thought it was the chance she was waiting for. She lurched forward, going to bash Kirito with her shield, once more, hoping to stun him with a hard, firm hit. At the last moment though, Kirito jumped over her, and turned to strike. First, it was a kick, knocking her to the ground. Then he tackled her, and got the shield and sword knocked away. With one blade, he was about to end her, when she kicked him off.

He fell back. She grabbed her spear from the ground, and charged him. It was a jumping attack. Her hesitation would be her downfall though. She took a half second to consider alternatives before attacking. Kirito had time to turn and disarm her with his swords as the attack came in. Now with now weapon, she got up and turned to run.

Kirito chased her into that tree. She looked back, and turned thinking to drop and dodge an incoming attack, but it was too late. His swords crossed over one another, and carved into the trunk of the tree. They were around her neck, so if she moved too much, they would cut.

Before he could finish it though, he was stabbed from behind. At first it was once, and he started to move his hands to finish the execution. Then, another sword went in. Both of Eulsam's blades stuck out from his chest, and he fell back, dropping his weapons.

Asuna screamed out and fell to the ground next to him. His health dropped, and slowly, reached zero.

* * *

><p>It was a tragic day for the fans of Kirito and Asuna… those who had cheered on their love from the beginning. It paled in comparison to the feelings that swept over the IVRTF. In the observation headquarters, Seijiro watched the whole thing go down.<p>

Everyone was silent. One man came up to Seijiro, who stood at the top, back of the room, looking over the railing at the main monitor. "Sir," he said. "Should I send word out?"

Seijiro looked up at him, and nodded. And so it did. The headlines on the news were that Kirito, the hero of Sword Art Online, had fallen in combat after a tragic series of events involving a yet unknown player-killer group. This was the first the public heard of Death Oath.

* * *

><p>Asuna's mother was earnestly relieved after watching the events. Though she felt her daughter's pain, she was focused on the positives, the outcome of the whole scene. She held her daughter's hand as she lay in the hospital bed, and looked down at her. She didn't have anything to say, though, not that anything she said would be heard.<p>

* * *

><p>"We need to stay positive, here," Donald Zimmar said at the emergency meeting that was called. "Kirito did us a great service, and he's a hero for it. It's sad, yes, that he died, but we have a name. And it linked to a real actual player… and we've confirmed that he is in fact the Black Prophet we've been looking for. This lead… will help us track down every member of those murderers. That man deserves a medal of honor for what he did."<p>

"Yes, I'm sure his family will be grateful for it," another agent said, sarcastically.

"What he deserved was to live. To wake up and see his daughter, and have a family." The director had the floor now. "Seijiro, I know you were close to him before this began. I want you to take a leave of absence, no less than two weeks."

Seijiro stood up in protest. "Sir, that's not necessary! I can continue performing my duties as normal. He isn't the first one I've lost."

"Two weeks."

"Then I am dismissed?"

"Yes, agent. You may leave."

"Director, sir," Donald Zimmar spoke up. "Given Seijiro's attachment to the situation, and his position, I think it would be at least polite to let him stay, if not to continue his work then to at least keep watching the cameras. He wasn't Kirito's family, but given their relationship, I'm sure he has an interest in watching the next fifteen days, to see if something happens."

"It hasn't happened yet," the director said. He sighed, and nodded. "Alright, I'll allow him to continue his observations, but he will not be on the clock, and his second in command will take the lead."

Zimmar left the room to go after Seijiro, and tell him the news.

"How much do we know now about this… GothGod?" Kojji asked.

"Not much yet," one agent said. "As we expected, he was one of the many who requested the cameras be turned off. With this new evidence, though, we've gotten the rights to turn them back on, and we've been watching closely since. But he's smart… he knows he's being watched, and he's only sent one message out. For now, he's blending in with the crowd."

"He can't lead his guild without communicating. Eventually we'll get more."

"Eventually, yes… but for now, it's a waiting game."

* * *

><p>After Kirito's death, the group sat there. Michiko finally appeared, dropping down from a cliff. She looked around, and then down. "I'm sorry," she said. "I was too late. What happened?"<p>

Eulsam looked at her, and went over to Kirito. He pulled his swords out of him, and that got her attention. "Why… what happened?"

"Kirito attacked us," Klein said. "He was after Asuna. We're still trying to figure that out now."

Asuna sat at the tree. Her knees wire pointed up and she was leaning against them. Though she could no longer be heard crying, the tears still fell.

Michiko looked at Asuna, and then back to the others. She kneeled down beside Kirito's body, and tapped it, opening up the loot inventory.

"So you're just going to take his stuff?" Klein asked.

"There may be some clues in here… he's got a lot of shit on him though. And in this game, all items can be looted from a dead player." Michiko first though took his two swords. She glanced back at Asuna, and decided it'd be best to hold onto them for now.

Eulsam began looking through the items. "Asuna's being too quiet over there. Guards go watch her…" The two nodded and walked over to Asuna. Asuna looked up at the two of them, and then back down. Now she felt like she was being baby sat.

Klein sat with Asuna. He didn't say anything, but he would talk if she wanted to. "I'm fine," she said as she notice everyone staying near her.

"No one's that good of a liar," Michiko said. "You know we can't leave you on your own right now."

Asuna looked over at her, and then sank her head down again. "Is that really necessary?"

"I got something," Eulsam said. "A slip of paper. It's labeled as a 'death note' and from the item menu I can see Asuna's name on one side… on the other… GothGod… Another player Kirito was meant to kill, maybe?" He sighed, and was about to tap the button to take it into his inventory, when suddenly Michiko tackled him.

"No, don't touch it!" she shouted.

Eulsam got up afterwards, and took a deep breath. "Good call…"

"I've seen cursed objects before. Not exactly like this one, but it screams to be the work of Death Oath."

"So we're going to get them now, right?" Klein asked.

"I'd love to," Eulsam said. "But we've never captured a single one of them before. In fact, we don't have any information about them. We simply know of their existence, and some people even believe that they are just a horror story. Michiko knows more about them than we do."

"We sacked one of their bases. It turned into the Black Wardens HQ. They clean up well though. We don't know anything."

Eulsam got up after taking all of the useful items from Kirito, and walked over to Asuna. "Here," he said, opening a trade window. "Take it…" He gave her everything except for weapons.

Asuna accepted the trade after a couple seconds, but that was it. She didn't look through the items or anything.

Michiko came to her next. "I know what it's like to lose someone you love," she said. "I spent more than a year dealing with the pain of that loss, and I felt like you do now… so many times. The pain won't stop until the day you die… and maybe not even then. Who am I to say? About the pain, I only have this to say, Asuna. Don't let it control you."

"Asuna," Eulsam said. "There is still hope. Don't forget."

"Resurrection has never been done before. It's not even real." Asuna only whispered. "It's just a terrible lie they told us… to fuck with our heads. There's nothing left for me… just leave me alone to die."

"I won't do that," Klein said. "You told me that you have someone important waiting for you on the outside. Even if we can't find a way to bring Kirito back, you have to make it through this."

Asuna shook her head. "I don't want to make it through this. It's not worth it. I can't go my whole life without him."

"Head back to base," Eulsam said to the guards. "Asuna… I swear I'll do everything I can to bring him back. Back in the Temple of Fire, he saved you, and delayed that battle long enough for Michiko to arrive. I owe him my life…"

"We all do," Klein said. He wrapped an arm around the girl, and rubbed her back, trying to console her.

"And he owes me his. How am I supposed to collect if I don't do what I can to bring him back?" Michiko said.

"Asuna." Klein kept on speaking. "I know it seems bleak, and unlikely. But at least for the next fifteen days… will you try? You know he would if things were reversed."

Eulsam held out his hand. She nodded, and took it. He helped her up, and she retrieved her weapons.

"Good girl," Michiko said. "Now let's get to work… it's going to take everything we've got."

_Year 2, Month 6, Day 10_

It had been ten days since Kirito's death. Eulsam found himself alone on a grassy plateau, looking out over the landscape. "After ten days of this…" he said. "We still haven't found anything. We've gone farther than any player before us." He spoke to himself, or so he thought.

After a few more moments, he sat down, and looked up at the sky. "The gods of this world are not kind…"

As he sat, the ground shook. He jolted up, so he wasn't left on the edge. He looked back, and something of a huge beast seemed to be emerging from the ground. He drew his dual swords, and looked up at it. When it rose, it was not just dirt and grass and rock, but small trees appeared to adorn this creature's body, and it was monstrous. Its form blocked out the sun, and a halo of light formed around it.

Finally, as he prepared for an unexpected, epic battle, some semblance of a face formed at what became the thing's head.

"Eulsam," it spoke to him in a voice like thunder, and yet, it sounded feminine. The clouds parted over its head, and the wind and storms fled from it in all directions. The rest of nature, however, did not. Birds and all forms of critters approached it and surrounded the beast without fear.

Finally, a great pair of eyes opened, and from them, shined bright light. Eulsam's feet were rooted into the ground, and two great hawks flew by him, disarming him. He was helpless if this were a fight. Luckily for him… it was not. The titanic beast spoke again.

"I… am Gaea."


	15. Chapter 15: Tartarus (ACT I Finale)

It was now on the eve of the eleventh day after Kirito's death. Eulsam and the others had all gathered up at Fort Freedom, a base of operations that the Protector's guild and the Black Wardens shared. It had been built on the former headquarters of the Red-Handed.

It was all abuzz. Players emptied out loads of metal ores and shards into huge troughs full of molten metals. Flame sorcerers used magic to keep the bins hot, and the alloy that they forged was being poured into weapon and armor casts.

Lisbeth was among the blacksmiths, hammering out and finishing these pieces of gear. The metal they had made was an alloy of steel and obsidian, which they mined from the Bonechill Mountains to the north, the same mountains where Kirito met his death.

The combination of metals formed into an alloy that was non-existent outside of the game. This alloy was dubbed Obsidite by the players, and bore a high fire resistance, higher than Aquasteel, and on its own as well was very strong. That wasn't enough though. Enchanters fused those weapons and armor with magic, providing them with extra bonuses.

Away from the furnaces, players sparred one another, practicing their combat skills and getting them up as high as possible before it was time to leave. At the fort's center, Eulsam met with Asuna, Sinon, Leafa and Michiko.

They all gathered around a large table, where a huge map was laid out. "Even with our numbers, and our levels… and our gear," Sinon said. "This is looking like a suicide mission. Eulsam, I am with you all the way. I want to save Kirito. But I hope that every player going in understands fully that there is a good chance they won't come out of it alive. And it's all for a player that some of them have never met…"

"They know what can happen," Eulsam said. "The players I've gathered… those that have chosen to go. They're the most bold, adventurous and heroic in Vearth. I am sure of it. Many of them not only have no fear of death, but derive great pleasure at the prospect of something this epic. They want treasures, and their names written in Vearth's history books. They care not if they make it back in one piece."

"That's somewhat disturbing," Leafa said. "So many willing to throw away their lives for a game."

"It's not just any game," Michiko said. "And if there was something worth dying for in the real world, I'm sure these are the ones who would be there too, if they could."

"This… it's not just one dungeon," Asuna said. "We don't even have a name for what we might call this."

"A raid," Eulsam said. "It comes from an older MMORPG, long before the days of full dive technology."

"Alright," Asuna said. "This raid is going spell the deaths of a lot of players."

"You of all people, I wouldn't expect to be naysaying this," Leafa said.

"I'm not. I just want to make sure we have a good plan. The less people who die, the better."

"Alright." Eulsam put out some pieces onto the map. "It starts here, with the Burial Grounds. This is actually a normal dungeon. Defeating the boss will open up a gateway into The Underworld. I expect to be able to clear Burial Grounds quickly, with no trouble. It has a player cap of one hundred and fifty, like the two that follow it, but I am told that it's more run of the mill. Our super group will run through it rather quickly. Once we enter The Underworld though, things get quite a bit more difficult. It's going to put the Temple of Fire to shame."

"So break it down. What are we going to see down there?" Michiko asked.

Eulsam opened up a guidebook from his player inventory. "First boss," he said. "Charon, the boatman. He ferries the souls of the dead into the underworld, not the souls, and much less the bodies of the living. This battle will be particularly difficult considering its location, on the River of Styx. We'll be doing this fight on a boat, I imagine. Charon will have abilities aimed at knocking us into the water."

"Only it's not water, is it?" Leafa asked.

"No… it's a river of souls. They will attack anything that enters the waters, dealing damage. If anyone gets knocked into the water, we can still save them, but we'll have to get them out as quickly as possible. Charon himself is no pushover. He is the Greek Mythos equivalent to the Grim Reaper. He doesn't wield a scythe, however, and there's nothing particularly exciting about his weapons in ancient mythology. Once we down Charon, the boat will take us into The Underworld."

"Next," Eulsam continued on. "We will find ourselves in the Elysian Fields. This is the Greek version of Heaven, but it's actually a lot closer to the Norse Valhalla. Persephone is said to be the caretaker of the Elysian Fields. We must defeat her in order to move on. She will call upon the souls of heroes. They will rush up, and attack us. Each of them is ranked as a mini-boss. Once she runs out of heroes to fight us with, she will surrender, and let us pass."

"For Persephone," Asuna said. "We'll want our tanks to coordinate between holding her away, and holding the summoned heroes. How many will we be facing at once, do you think?"

"There's no way of telling, but there are a limited amount of Greek Heroes. I can't say for sure I know them all."

"We can count on ones like Hercules and Achilles I bet. Now that I think of it, they'll likely form a group of their own… a boss group." Michiko thought about it for a moment. "Hercules and Achilles will definitely be tanks. Then we'll see ones like Odysseus who are ranged DPS'ers."

"That sounds likely. With a hundred and fifty of us, we should have enough people to create a smaller party for each of the heroes." Eulsam waved his hands, and the map changed. It now showed winding caverns, and he pointed to the first large chamber. "Here," he said. "We will face the Erinyes. They are a triplet of bosses who function as one tank, one healer, and one damage dealer. In mythos, the Erinyes were something akin to angels, with great wings and they were mighty warriors of light. They spelled doom for oath breakers and traitors, said to be avengers of evil in the world."

"But we're not evil," Michiko said.

"Not from our points of view. From their perspective, we will be invaders, trying to break the natural order of life and death. Alecto the Unceasing will be the healer in their group. Do not take her lightly when we fight, however. She will engage in melee combat, and throw out her healing spells on a whim. Megaera the Grudging is their tank. She will copy Asuna's Valkyrie stance, wielding a large, heavy shield and switch between a spear and sword. Tisiphone the Vengeful Destruction is their damage dealer. She will dual wield, but not with two swords. It is a fighting stance similar to Valkyrie, the damage-dealing equivalent that I have only seen once before. It is called Gladiator stance, and she will hold a pole-arm or a spear in her main hand, and a sword in her off hand."

"We'll kill their healer first," Sinon said. "Like any good fighting group. Without her, they will perish quickly."

"That's what I thought at first, too. But the game throws us a curveball here. If we slay one before the others, her sisters will bring her back to life."

"That will be difficult," Michiko said. "That leaves only one real strategy, to hammer them hard and fast. Instead of focusing on the healer, we'll need more focus on the tank, to make sure they all die at once."

"With a hundred and fifty people, it will be difficult to execute. And we will probably need all of them in the fight." Asuna thought about it for a few moments. "Perhaps we could try to have everyone attack them in turn, knocking their health down in increments before switching targets. We'll also need a backup group to make up for the healing done."

"We'll discuss this more as we prepare," Eulsam said. "After the Erinyes, we will face one of the three judges. Rhadamanthus, Minos or Aeacus will appear at random, while the other two observe the battle from afar. Despite this being a boss fight, the judges will actually be on our side. The purpose of this battle will be to purify ourselves before continuing on to Hades. Supposedly, we will be facing our own guilt, doubts and fears. From the text, I would assume that we should take this in the literal. We will be fighting aberrations of those negative energies."

"That battle," Michiko said. "It will be tougher for some of us…"

"Yeah, like everyone at this table," Leafa said.

"There's good new though," Eulsam said. "For this battle, we catch a huge break. If we near death, we are not killed, but instead removed from the fight until it is either beaten or lost. If the whole group loses, we can even start over… And after the battle is won, the judges will grant us much needed bonuses for the fights to come."

"Oh, well isn't that a treat," Asuna said. "We can fight like there's no tomorrow… it'll be like back in the days before this started, and we could respawn after death."

"Hades does not sound friendly," Michiko said.

"The lord of the Underworld," Eulsam said. "He is not only extremely powerful, but will be casting fire spells on us the whole battle. It will be like the fight in the Temple of Fire… only if Pyyraus and the serpent were the same boss. And of course, it couldn't be that easy. The souls of the damned will also enter the battle. They won't hurt us directly, but will sap away our spirit and will. They will aim to freeze us in fear."

"We'll have to be better with our grouping," Asuna said. "If we end up in a one on one against Hades, I doubt we'll survive. Especially not in a dungeon meant for more than a hundred players."

"Finally, there's Cerberus. Cerberus guards the Gates of Tartarus, our final dungeon."

"Wait, didn't Cerberus guard the Gates of the Underworld?" Sinon asked.

"That is actually a common misconception," Eulsam explained. "Cerberus is the guard dog of Tartarus. In Greek Mythology, when you died, if you were a hero, and your heart was pure, you would go to the Elysian Fields. Otherwise, you would go to the Underworld. But there were more than humans in the Greek Mythos. Tartarus is where the monsters are. Cerberus was set to guard the Gates of Tartarus, not to keep anyone from getting in, but to keep all of the evil in the world from getting out."

"So why is he going to stop us from getting in?" Leafa asked.

"Well the biggest risk of anything getting out is someone opening the doors from our side of things. Which is what we need to do to complete our quest."

"Wait a minute though. If Cerberus guards Tartarus, and if we beat him and open the gates… doesn't that mean we're risking all of the evil down there escaping?" Asuna asked.

"The quest goes something like this," Eulsam explained. "As time goes on, the beings in the mortal world grow more powerful. Among them, great heroes arise, but also great threats. Tartarus is a prison as much as it is an afterlife for monsters. But those who seek to destroy this world would see the gates opened, and unleash the beings from within upon our world. That time, Gaea fears, is coming soon. The only hope we have is to beat them to it, and instead of letting all the evil in the world escape, to go in and destroy it."

"But if we fail… we'll leave the gates wide opened behind us," Michiko said.

"No we won't," Eulsam said. "The gates will not stay opened behind us without anyone to hold the doors opened. This is a one way trip until we clear the dungeon out."

Asuna took a deep breath. "We already knew that… keep going."

"Cerberus is somewhat straight forward. Expect a lot of fire, a lot of thrashing, and teeth and claws. We will have to destroy each head individually. Once we pass into Tartarus, things get a lot harder. And… a lot hotter. Tartarus is hell, basically. There will be heat and flames, and rives and oceans of lava. If not for the judges' protections, the burning air of Tartarus would scorch our skin until we are piles of ash."

"Sounds like a party," Michiko said. "What kind of horrible monsters will we face down there?"

"As soon as we enter, we'll be attacked by a legendary creature. This will be one of the weaker, lesser known Gorgons. It will be… a huge bull or… a lion or scorpion. That fight will be similar to every boss fight we've already faced. Once it's down, we will have to go into a maze."

"A maze… so we can expect to spend a lot of time trying to find our way around, then?" Asuna asked. "Just like SAO."

"Only… it would be the case, if in SAO the bosses spawned in the dungeons themselves, and chased you the whole way through them. Our next boss is the Minotaur. He is huge, and dual wields two-handed weapons. Normally, he might be an easy fight, but in the labyrinth, we will be in tight corridors, and we will have to spend a lot of the battle running."

"I'm guessing we'll also have to watch out for traps," Asuna said.

"Not just traps, either. The trash of Tartarus will be stationed throughout the maze. It's going to be one hell of a fight. Once we defeat the Minotaur, a series of openings will appear in the walls, leading directly to the other end of the maze."

"The Minotaur sounds crazy challenging," Leafa said. "It will be hard for arcane spell casters to perform their magic while running around."

"And the battle is going to be healing intensive," Asuna said. "I don't know how we're going to do it…"

"And then," Eulsam said. "Things get worse. The opening of the Labyrinth also releases some of the nastiest beings ever to walk the earth. The Titans. Three of them are imprisoned within the maze, and we will have to fight one of them right away. The next two will attack us at random while we're going through the trash mobs of Tartarus. They are colossal creatures, and each one we fight will be tougher then the last. At the very least, they won't have too many mechanics to go with them. It will be difficult, but straight-forward battles."

"Next," Eulsam continued on. "The Hydra. We will get some practice with the mechanics fighting Cerberus, but Hydra will be faster, and stronger. As you might expect, we want to avoid headshots with this one. Each time we critically wound a head, it will fall off, and three more will take its place. Remember the serpent in the Temple of Fire. Think that when you think Hydra head."

"How do we kill it?" Michiko asked.

"We have to get around its head, and aim for its chest. It can only be killed by destroying its heart. Sinon," Eulsam said. "Make sure your rangers have good accuracy. The melee players will likely all be dealing with the heads."

"It won't start with one?" Leafa asked.

"Nope," Eulsam said. "We can expect it to start with three. Moving on… we'll face Medusa. Medusa will make everything else we fought seem easy. She is a combination healer and ranger. She will shoot us from afar with her bow. She will heal herself. She is also part snake, and from waist to the tip of her tail is nearly two hundred feet long. Expect similar mechanics as with… again, the serpent in Temple of Fire. It gets worse. Her hair is composed the heads of snakes, so melee attacks close to her head is a bad idea. And of course, being Medusa, if you look into her eyes, you will turn to stone. As far as I can figure, there is no cure, and you will die of starvation."

"Sounds simple enough," Michiko said. "Stay back and hit her snake body."

Eulsam sighed. "Her scales are as touch as titanium. Our weapons and magic will do no harm to those. In order to kill Medusa, we have to attack her torso, and score critical shots on her head."

Sinon blinked, and whistled. "Now that may be difficult."

"Next up… Cronus. Cronus of course makes Medusa seem easy. He is the paragon of time and space, and will cast spells that temporarily screw with gravity and our perception of time. He can also freeze us in time for short periods of time. On top of that, he is completely immune to physical weapons, and has a high magic resistance to all types of magic. But I'm not done ruining your days yet. This guy will teleport us into his throne room to fight directly after defeating Medusa. We will have no time to prepare for this fight."

"So we just have to whittle him down bit by bit?" Leafa asked.

"We're going to need as much magical attacks as we can get, to get some damage dealt to him fast. Of course, there won't be time for our healers to recover mana from the last battle." Asuna shook her head. "We'll have to tell our spell casters to switch to physical attacks for Medusa. At her size, even her arrows sound like a one-hit kill anyways. It'll be pointless to have healers wasting their mana during that fight."

"I agree," Leafa said. "The only danger that isn't instant death is her hair, but we've decided we'll stay away from that anyways. Then, when we get to Cronus, we'll all switch back to our magic, and blast Cronus with everything we've got. We'll expend all of our mana, and get him down fast. Besides… I know my mythology… some of it. Cronus is the last boss."

"Nope," Eulsam said.

Everyone turned to Eulsam. "Who," Asuna asked. "Could possibly top the Greek god of time and space?"

"Hecatoncheires."

"Heck-a-what?" Michiko asked.

"Hecatoncheires means 'hundred-armed one.' That is the final boss of Tartarus. I'll bet it's the main reason the player cap for the raid is one hundred and fifty." Eulsam let out a deep breath. "We can strategize and come up with a working plan to fight every other boss. But Hecatoncheires is different. It is an aberration spawned from the primordial soup of the universe, before the laws of physics, much less nature, were sorted out. A hundred arms wield a hundred swords, and fifty heads see and hear in all directions. It cannot be disarmed. It is only minimally affected by magic. It will engage up to one hundred players at a time."

Asuna nodded, and turned to go. "When do we leave?"

"One day," Eulsam said.

"Let's get to briefing… and then train and practice."

_The Underworld_

As Eulsam had said, the Burial Grounds were a piece of cake. The huge player group mowed over the boss. Then, they opened the huge wooden doors where the entrance into the great domain below the ground was said to lie. Beyond the gates was a winding cavern that led the players to the banks of the River Styx. Five wooden ships—triremes—were waiting for them, and they all stopped there to rest for the night.

They also developed their plans. "We face Charon!" Eulsam shouted to the group. "Rest well. Tomorrow, we will gather into our assigned player groups, and each of us will board these ships and continue on into the depths of hell itself… and beyond. Heroes and champions of Vearth, our greatest challenge has come. Tomorrow, we lay siege on the domain of the dead and the damned."

The next day, all of the players grouped up, and boarded their ships. Each of the five who had met for the main briefing were the leader of a group. Once all of the ships were boarded, sorcerers used their magic to unfurl sails, and propel the ships with wind. When the ships all got started though, they didn't need sails or wind, the souls in the river carried them onward.

Charon appeared only once all players had lost sight of the shores, and were sailing down infinity in the glowing green waters. It began with a loud screech. All players covered their ears at the hissing, and it finally stopped. From the river arose a huge shadow, a skeletal figure wearing a black cloak, and the souls of the river tried to climb up onto him.

"Rangers!" Sinon shouted. "Fire at will!"

"Spell casters, shoot!" Leafa shouted as well.

The two collections of players, and there were a few on each ship, began their assault. Arrows and magic flew out towards Charon. He was an easy target to hit, but not easy to defeat.

After seeing how much damage he was taking, versus how much health he had, Eulsam shouted to Sinon and the archers. "Hold your fire! Don't waste your arrows!"

Sinon nodded, and repeated the command. The archers all stopped firing, and the mages focused on the attack. The melee players, as well as the archers, soon had something to do however. The souls in the river began to climb up into their ships, and they had to fight them away.

They were easy enough to fight, but came in mass numbers. The added weight threatened to bring the ships down. That couldn't happen. "Wind sorcerers!" Leafa shouted. "Turn your attacks to the adds. Keep them off of the ships!" Among all of the spell casters, there was only a handful of wind sorcerers. They proved more than effective at knocking the souls away.

The boats rocked though, and players were started to lose their balance. One swordsman was thrown into the waters. Sinon acted quickly. She tethered a rope from the mast to her arrow, and shot it out at the player. A few others all helped her pull the man back to safety. His health was below fifty percent after he finally got back on board.

"Charon," Eulsam said as he looked forward. "Why isn't he doing anything?"

Suddenly, Charon held out his hand. "If you wish to cross this river, a token must be paid to the ferryman."

A player saw this, and withdrew several coins from his inventory, and chucked them at Charon.

"No, wait!" Eulsam tried to stop him, but was too later. The player was instantly killed, and his 'soul' appeared to leave his body and flow into the river. "Well at least no one will fall for that now," he muttered before resuming his fighting against the souls.

The fight wore down the players, but they endured. Eventually, Charon was brought down, and sank beneath the surface. The ships slowly entered into a new area. It was a heavenly place, and they landed on the shores of the Elysian Fields.

"We made it past the first fight," Asuna said once she rejoined Eulsam. "We only lost one, let's not keep Persephone waiting!" She mounted up, and charged forward on the plains.

Many of the players did not wait. They charged with her. Some stayed behind, restoring their mana and taking a few seconds to rest. Once they were ready, the also all mounted up and charged onwards.

"Hmm," Eulsam said as he watched. "With so many players, it almost doesn't matter if some stop to rest while the others keep going. It'll be a good way to keep pressing on."

"Indeed," Michiko said. "As long as no one enters a boss room too quickly. Asuna may be a little too hopeful about this quest."

"Wasn't there a myth about a Greek hero who had to rescue a loved one from the Underworld?" Klein asked as he rode up next to Eulsam.

"Yes. The moral was that you shouldn't ever lose sight of the goals at hand in favor of the goals yet far out of your reach. We need to make sure no one rushes too far ahead…"

The party all stopped and regrouped as they approached a large temple in the middle of the fields. "That looks like it's it," Asuna said, pointing ahead.

"We go on my command," Eulsam said. "I am the leader of this group. And with so many of us, it's important that we follow the change of command."

"I've waited thirteen days. Time is running out!"

"We are an army, Asuna! Not a mob. Staying together and staying organized is our best chance of success. We have two whole days to finish Tartarus. That's more than enough time. And I planned in a whole extra day to return to Kirito."

Asuna did not answer. Her horse reared up as she pulled its reins, and she charged it forward.

Eulsam rolled his head. "Don't leave her to fight alone, soldiers! Charge!" He rode in after her, and soon, everyone else followed. "Remember our strategy!" he shouted. "Form up into groups of ten! More damage dealers focus on the enemy tanks. More healers focus on our groups closer to their damage dealers!"

A brazier in the center of the room lit up, and a voice was heard. "Who are these weaklings who think they have a right to enter my domain? This place is meant to be a home to the greatest heroes of all time! Come forth, my treasures! Come and show this pathetic lot what a true hero is made of!"

Flames shot from the brazier in all directions, but did not strike players. Instead, they hit the ground and swirled around. The ghostly images of heroes past manifested themselves. There were ten in all, and they attacked the players immediately.

Asuna was still in her charge, on the way towards the mighty Hercules. She leapt off of her horse, sword and shield armed, and came crashing down on top of him. Her spear scored a critical hit, and she left it impaled in his right collar. Even so, he still had a decent amount of hit points left, and was more than ready to fight.

Asuna drew her sword after landing on the ground, and ran towards him. Hercules was like Sampson, and wielded a huge axe. Except… he was a giant, nearly three times as large in stature, and his weapon matched that. When it swung, Asuna held up her shield, but in her charge, was knocked away.

"Aww shit," Eulsam said. He charged forward to help her, along with a few others. Before he even arrived though, she stood up, and was more than ready to fight. Suddenly, lights danced around her, and the light formed a halo over her head, wings on her back, and surrounded her weapons.

She charged in, and this time, the swing of Hercules' axe was dodged. She jumped, higher than normally possible, over the swing, and as she came down, she slashed over the giant's chest. She spun 'round, and slashed at his legs next.

The huge enemy was bringing his axe around for another attack, on her shield side. When it came, she pushed her shield into it, knocking it up, and knocking the mini-boss off balance. Then, she climbed up on top of Hercules, and drove her sword into his chest.

Eulsam stopped to watch. "So," he said to himself. "That's the true power of the Valkyrie… that will be good to know for our next fight…" He left Asuna to deal with the giant, and went on to help the other players.

Once Hercules was out of the game, Asuna retrieved her spear, and went on to the next monster. As she charged in, she held out her spear. Her mana, she now noticed, was draining as she stayed in this mode. It drained even faster though when lightning began to crackle, hitting her large spear. She threw it, and it landed right in the chest of another giant. It was already weak, and that moved finished it.

Now, she was out of mana, and back to her normal self. The display of raw power did quite a bit to inspire heroics in all of their party. And it wasn't just mental, either. A buff had been placed on each of them, and their endurance and spirits were raised.

Now with eight of the 'heroes' remaining, more players focused on each one. Had it not been for Asuna, the battle might have raged on longer, and it might have been a bit more of a challenge. The battle ended quickly.

Unceasing, Asuna mounted up, and rode down a stairway that had opened up after the battle. Eulsam was even inspired now. Not a single member in their party was below eighty percent mana, except for Asuna. Everyone had maximum health. "We move for the Erinyes!"

After fighting (and quite effortlessly so) through scores of trash mobs as they moved down a winding staircase, they came upon a huge chamber. Above it, there appeared to be no ceiling, and a high sunny sky. Below, the floor appeared as glass, and looking down onto fire and brimstone.

"Remember!" Eulsam shouted. "We must defeat them at the same time! Organize yourselves into your five groups. Cycle our attacks!"

"What mortals are these?" a soft voice asked.

"Surely, they do not believe they can pass us and move into that which no living soul may enter."

"I smell terrible sins on their heads, sisters."

Three stars appeared to fall from the fake sky, and crashed into the ground. From the explosions of light, the three Erinyes stood up, wielding their weapons and shields, clothed in white and gold, with glorious wings on their backs.

"We will purge this place of their foul presence!"

"Down, down into the fires below!"

"Vengeance for your gravest sins is ours! You will reap the day you met us, mortals."

"You face the Erinyes."

Megaera assumed her Valkyrie state, thunder and lightning swarming around her as her weapons were consumed by the light. Alecto held up a hammer, and a flash of light fell down upon all three of them, a shield of divine magic. Tisiphone charged forth immediately into an attack.

Lisbeth broke the first strike, but was knocked back by the charge, clear into the back wall. Leafa immediately healed her, and she got up to run back into battle.

"You don't think maybe you should have waited to use that super heroin mode till now, Asuna?" Eulsam asked.

She looked. Her mana was too low and she felt unable to reactivate it. "Nevermind that, since when were you relying on me so heavily anyways?"

"Good point!"

Sampson had charged up after Lisbeth was knocked back. He huffed and began to grow. Suddenly he was towering over the party, and appeared as none other than the Minotaur they would face later on.

"You people keep pulling tricks like that out of your sleeves and I'm going to be feeling a lot more hopeful about our outcome today," Eulsam said.

Sampson was now nearly as large as the Erinyes, who were at least forty feet in height. He took on Tisiphone, his rage realized after seeing Lisbeth get struck.

Lisbeth of course noticed this, and smiled. "Aww, my hero," she said. Sampson seemed completely out of control though. And he swung and fought with the Vengeful Destruction. Metal clanged, and soon he made a massive strike, overhead, breaking the powerful shield in one blow. The whole thing lasted about thirty seconds, and then he shrank back to normal size. He seemed dizzy afterwards, and Lisbeth came in to pull Tisiphone off of him.

While Sampson worked on that, the rest of the group split in two, trying to get the shields off of the other two Erinyes. Getting those shields down was mostly thankful to a few flame sorcerers in their party, who showered the Erinyes in fireballs.

Megaera had to be tanked by two. Agil and some other player were on her. The swings of her spear threated the whole group though, and in the Valkyrie state, they were impossible to properly block or deflect.

"Off Meg!" Eulsam shouted. "Wait till her mana drains!"

They did as commanded, and Agil and the third kept on her. Leafa kept those two alive. Eulsam himself charged in to fight Alecto. Soon enough, her shield burst, and they began to start doing damage.

Before long, Megaera was out of her Valkyrie state. And the whole group now focused on her, with a tank focusing each of the other two Erinyes. It wasn't long before her protective, magical shield broke.

The group kept their cycle up, moving between the three to bring down their health bit by bit. The battle dragged on this way, with Alecto healing her sisters. Mana was beginning to drain on the players, but they had planned for this.

"Healers! Swap, now!" Then, the group of healers all equipped physical weapons. Though their skills were not as high, they did their part, and were able to keep Alecto from gaining any ground on the healing, despite not gaining much themselves in terms of damage.

When their mana regenerated, there was another swap. The damage dealing mages moved into physical attacks for a brief time. And before long, everyone was back on their feet, full mana and full health. The Erinyes, had they been players, might have begun to sweat.

Now, they switched one last time, and everyone was in their proper roles. "Asuna!" Eulsam shouted. "Save your Valkyrie mode for the next fight!"

She nodded, and kept fighting as she was. Since their strategy was sustainable, they kept it up, and eventually, the three Erinyes were worn down, and they fell. The players all cheered, but Asuna charged onward. "Forward!" she shouted. "We're not halfway through, yet!"

Everyone agreed, and they charged onward with her. "Next up, the judges!" Eulsam shouted. "Prepare to face every darkness in your heart!"

More trash was wiped clean along the way. The group found themselves in a huge chamber of gray stone. On the other end was their door. Three figures stood at the top, appearing on the other side of the stone walls, looking down.

One of them climbed over, and dropped down in the middle of the floor. "We have looked into your hearts," he said. "And we have found your motives are pure. However… we have also found in you great darkness. If you wish to pass this chamber and face the might of Hades, then you must slay the evil that lurks within your very souls. You will be weighed against the guilt in your hearts, here. Mortals… we wish you the best of luck."

From every player a being of shadow spawned. These were the representations of their negative emotions. Greed, anger, guilt, fear… and they took on the appearances of the players themselves. All except for a select few.

Michiko was face to face with the Laughing Coffin guild member she killed. Sinon faced the shooter that she had killed in the real world at a young age. Eulsam faced someone different as well, but no one recognized who he was.

The fighting began, and metal clashed and clanged. Each player had their own fight to win, and if they failed, they would be taken to the top of the ring to watch as their darker side turned and fought their allies.

Eulsam was quick with his enemy, not wanting to hear a single word come from this other man's mouth. Then he helped others. Michiko flat out refused to fight, and let herself be defeated by this manifestation before her.

Many players joined her on the rafters, some just because they knew that death was no worry in this place. This however left other players with more trouble to deal with.

"Asuna," the false Asuna said. "How could you?" It moved to strike her, and it activated its own Valkyrie mode. Asuna, the real one, matched it and fought back. "You let Kirito die, Asuna! You were too weak to save yourself… and you let your friends do your dirty work."

"Shut up!" she shouted back as she fought. "I'm fixing it!" She fought on with great fury.

The situation was similar with everyone. But the battle was admittedly quick by comparison. Only it was quick in the wrong way. The players all found themselves back on the floor. The judge was disappointed. "You will try again," he said. "This time, you will face your faults, instead of running from them, and shutting them up like cowards!"

The battle started again. The players were somewhat drained. Their stats were reset to full as well, but they were weary of the fighting. "We did that all wrong!" Eulsam shouted. "No one wanted to deal with what they faced. So some chose to die. Some ended the fight before it was truly over… like myself. And when too few did the right thing, they were only held back by everyone else's failure."

"You're right," Asuna said. "But maybe we're missing the point…"

"What do you mean?"

"If we were all meant to face our problems on our own—"

"Then why are we all still here together?" Michiko finished her statement.

Michiko turned from her target, and faced the false Asuna. Asuna swapped with her in return, and they waited for their enemies to attack. Still, it was not so simple, and the battle was once again reset. They had done better, however.

"I'm getting sick of this fight," Eulsam said. "What else are we missing?"

"If we're supposed to actually deal with our problems. Should we even be fighting at all? I feel as though I'm not solving anything…" Sampson said.

"I agree," Eulsam said. "I was never good at this sort of thing. I'm hoping you guys can help figure this one out."

"I noticed what your alter ego said," Michiko said. "As I fought. You wrestle with Kirito's death still, even as we march strong and fast towards saving him. It's… almost as if you blame yourself for what happened."

Asuna looked down as Michiko talked. She knew she was right about it.

"And you shouted," Klein said. "You said that you're fixing it. That's what you're doing… your rushing through here like you broke something, and you have to fix everything."

"Isn't that what I'm doing here?" she asked. Her tone was bitter.

"No," Eulsam said. "What you are doing here is trying to bring a loved one back. The difference is that it wasn't your fault he died. That's what you have to accept to win this fight."

"But it is!"

"Anyone else notice that most our counterparts are not attacking, while everyone else is in combat?" Klein asked.

"No, Asuna," Sampson said, not paying much attention to the battle. "I think I understand your feelings. I had the same ones after Tex jumped from that building. I thought that I should have paid more attention to see it coming. But there was no way of knowing. It wasn't my fault she died, even though I felt that way for months."

"I've told you before," Michiko said. "You can't let your pain take control. I've watched it consume you in this dungeon." She pointed at her double. "And there is the proof."

Asuna fell to her knees, and nodded. She sniffled a little bit, and started to speak. "You're right… but how can I just let go? I love him… he's a part of me."

"Boo fuckin' hoo," the alternate Asuna said. "All this fairy tale romance crap, and you actually went along with it? I mean come on… how many times can you expect this high school sweetheart love to save you? He's gone now, sweetheart. You're on your own…"

Asuna stood up, and turned to face her.

"Oh, did I make you angry? Ready to fight me again?"

Asuna charged at her, with her spear, but stopped short. She smiled, and put her weapon and shield to her back. As she walked past her double, another figure appeared for a moment. It struck the fake with a sword, and she looked surprised.

"What… the hell?"

Asuna smiled at her. "You're wrong… I'll never be on my own." After that, the fake vanished, and Asuna appeared to float up to the top of the arena as a shimmering light. The same was starting to happen to other players.

"That was strange," Eulsam said. "I don't get it."

"I do," Sampson said. He moved past his own double towards where Lisbeth fought hers. He knocked the Lisbeth double away, and moved up to her. Lisbeth blinked at him, surprised. The hulk of a man looked down at her, and smiled. "Liz," he said. "I made a promise to a friend some time ago that I would say it, and I still haven't because I never knew how. I don't know how to make this not awkward, so I'll just say it." He took a deep breath. "I know you like me… and I like you too."

"Really?" Klein said, holding his hand out to Sampson. It worked though, and Sampson's double vanished. Coincidentally, Lisbeth's had also vanished. The both of them joined Asuna.

"Okay," Michiko asked, looking towards Eulsam. "Your turn."

"What? My turn. Huh-uh. You first!"

"Clearly, you need to go first. Who is that?" she asked.

Eulsam sighed, and bowed his head. "That's… it's my father."

Michiko looked back. "Your dad? So what's your beef with the old man?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Eulsam, we've already determined that either we all get through this, or we never get through this. And we also determined that we need to get through this together. So what's your deal, huh?"

"He's an asshole."

"You realize that that's normal, right?"

"No… you don't understand."

"Then help me help you, hmm?"

He sighed, and nodded. "Okay… here you go. He's in the game."

Michiko waited for him to continue. "Okay, you stubborn ass. Continue!"

"He was playing MMO's since his college days. He got me into them in the first place… I fell in love and when full dive came out, I was amazed."

"Okay… and that's a problem because…"

"He knew how much I enjoyed them. I wanted so badly to get Sword Art Online when it came out, and I did, too."

Klein looked up at him. "Wait a minute. You're an SAO survivor?!"

Eulsam shook his head. "My dad always told me that he saved me by accident. All smug and proud of himself. He wouldn't let me play that day until I played some Warcraft with him, since he wasn't as interested in the full dive technology. And… I missed launch day."

"How is that a bad thing?!" Michiko shouted. "You're not making any sense!"

"No, you're right," he said. "I'm not, and this is silly. My dad is right. But come on… now he comes into the game? Now he's here, and what does he do? He treats this place like some kind of paradise world. Do you know what that crazy bastard said when he first got in here?"

"What did he say?"

"He said thank god… because how else was anything going to be a real challenge? He embraced the concept of the death game. He brought his whole guild together, and they went off west when I said I needed his help to create order in Newberg! He's so selfish!"

"Is he now? Because I happened to catch you ignoring calls from your guild for over a month now…"

Eulsam stopped, and blinked. He thought about it.

"Eulsam. Maybe what you're really upset about is something else. Maybe you're upset at yourself for becoming so much like him."

"Yeah, you know it's okay if you're having fun, even if life is on the line," Klein said. "That's something we learned in SAO."

"Hey!" Michiko shouted, holding up her hand to Klein. "I got this…" She turned back to Eulsam. "What he said."

"Yeah, you're right, guys. I got so pent up in duty that I lost sight of myself. It's okay that I'm like my dad… as long as it's just a little…" Then he was finished with his challenge.

"Michiko," Klein said, looking to her target. "I already know where you're going with this one."

Michiko blinked, and then everything was alright for her. In fact, Klein was the very last to face his foe, and it was Kirito.

"Meh," Klein said. "My problems are easy… I'm just jealous. I'm jealous you were better than me, that you were only better because you went solo. I'm jealous you got the girl. I'm jealous you won the game… I know it's terrible to say now, but I'm not jealous anymore because guess what. It's not my life we're trying to save now!" Klein aimed his sword at the false Kirito, and he vanished.

The rest of players floated down. "Congratulations," the judge said. "You have withstood our trial. Now go forth and face your next challenge."

Each of the players now had a buff on them. They felt like they could handle anything. But it was bold to think so, walking into the throne room of the god of the Underworld.

"So many have come," Hades said. His voice was raspy, and it echoed in the huge chamber. "Trying to claim the dead from my grasp… trying to prove their might… trying to escape from their fates. None have defeated me. What is it that you have come here seeking, mortals? I hope it's worth dying for. I hope you're prepared to face the torment of an eternity in my domain. Step forth, and challenge me, if you dare."

Asuna now was waiting for the group to be ready. "Hades," she reminded the players. "He will not be an easy battle. Break into five groups of thirty… well one group of twenty-nine and four groups of thirty. Your tank is your leader. Each group will either face hades or adds. We will be separated, so if your group has any trouble, you're going to have to survive on your own until we can shift groups. Our plan for if a group is in trouble, for another whole group to merge with them, and split back up once everyone is healed. Don't try to move between groups as a single player."

"Are we ready?" Eulsam shouted. He drew his swords as the huge group shouted and banged their weapons around. "Asuna…" he said, looking to her.

Asuna smiled, and ran into the ring. "Charge!" Every player followed here, and they all split into their five groups. Asuna's group faced Hades first.

She activated her Valkyrie mode. The crackling of thunder came, and she hurled her spear at the god. It hit him, impaling. He cried out in great pain and was brought to his knees. The whole group watched in confusion. Hades was defeated in one blow. Asuna deactivated Valkyrie to conserve her mana and watched Hades die.

"Daughter… of Zeus… it's unfair…" He cried out, and exploded. Everyone took damage, but it was nothing considering their full health.

"Oooooooooh," Asuna said as she went to pick up her staff. "Zeus… lightning… Hades… that actually makes sense if you think about it."

"Well that was rather anticlimactic," Michiko said. There was a moment of pause, and then she shrugged. "To Cerberus!"

The group cheered, and they ran on towards the next battle. They slayed more monsters along the way, going down a spiral staircase that had opened behind the throne.

Cerberus awoke as they approached. The massive canine was a pseudo-fire-elemental. A health bar appeared above each head, and it howled out.

"Remember," Eulsam said. "We'll have no time to rest between this boss and the next. So ready yourselves!"

The group once again made a storm of sound with their weapons. A hundred and forty-nine players all ready to fight. Asuna led the charge once more. After re-activating Valkyrie, she threw her lightning spear at the middle head. It hit, and dealt massive damage, knocking the health bar down halfway.

Lisbeth took on the beast's right head, and opened by having Sampson throw her into it. She wrapped around its neck, and mounted the beast before attacking. It thrashed around, but couldn't shake her off.

Another two tanks focused on the third head, each juggling its attention so it couldn't properly aim its fire breath. One tank defended against each front paw, and the rest of the group attacked.

Like the Temple of Fire, the burning breath weapon was a high damage area-of-effect. Unlike it however, they had a couple water sorcerers to counter the flames.

Sampson leapt up at the head Lisbeth attacked, and with a mighty burning axe he'd claimed from the Temple of Fire, he cleaved right through it, scoring a good critical hit and taking off the already injured head.

Now it was Sinon's time to shine. She jumped up, aided by a high jump spell she had a mage cast on her, and when she reached the top of her jump, time stopped for her. She moved with unbelievable speed, firing off three arrows in a single instant. Those three arrows all hit their mark with perfect accuracy, nailing three of the four eyes remaining on the beast.

It roared out, and the venter head was destroyed. The one head with one eye was now no match for the huge group, and it fell.

There was a short cheer, and Asuna had a small amount of mana left so she deactivated Valkyrie. Now, finally, they watched as their final dungeon challenge lied before them. There was a huge gate now opening before them—The Gates of Tartarus.

_Tartarus_

The gates to hell took a long time to open, and as players walked towards them, they finally got a good chance to check their loot wins from the Underworld. Asuna had won Megaera's spear, which was classified as a legendary weapon and heavily outmatched her current one. Lisbeth got Alecto's shield, and like the spear, was called legendary. Silica had a claim on Cerberus's tooth, which was used as a dagger. Xaela got Tisiphone's pole-arm weapon, another legendary.

When the players finally made it into the next room, they could feel the heat, but there was no monster waiting for them. "What's going on?" Xaela asked. "We planned on an immediate attack here. Are there no monsters to fight?"

"This is unexpected," Eulsam said. 'Keep your guard up, everyone."

As the approached a huge double door that lead into the labyrinth, they walked slowly, wondering where their next challenger might be. They reached the labyrinth with no fight, and it left many wondering.

"Alright," Eulsam said. "Looks like the legendary animal is on vacation! We'll be continuing on into the Labyrinth."

"This is Minotaur's domain," Asuna said. "We'll be spending a good portion of the fight running, and dodging traps, and fighting monsters. Be quick on your feet, and be wary of your surroundings. It's going to take at least a hundred of us to take on the final boss… so it'd be a shame if you died here."

There was a bit of a snickering, and then they all marched into the Labyrinth. The doors closed behind them. They started running into monsters shortly after, and fought them down easily. As they got closer to the center of the maze though, it appeared.

Minotaur! They saw it as it rounded a corner, and as it saw them, it charged. "Run!" Eulsam shouted, and the group turned the other way as the beast chased them.

"Idea!" Klein said to Eulsam. "It probably has to at least stop to turn! If we round a corner, we should all stop and attack it there!"

"I like it!"

"Everyone!" Asuna shouted. "When you round a corner, stop and prepare to fight!"

And they did just though, once they got around a corner, they all stopped and turned to attack the beast. It did just as planned, and had to stop there. They all struck with everything they had. Sinon used her special ability, and so did Klein. Asuna activated Valkyrie, and hurled her spear before attacking with her sword.

They managed to knock down fifteen percent of its health before it let out a loud roar, the wind from which knocked everyone back. Those who hit a wall took some damage, but those who did not were in even more trouble. The beast charged the ones laying on the floor, and used its two heavy hammers to strike them.

Fortunately, none had been in the core group, but about eight of them died in the strikes. Eulsam got up, and looked out at the best which was getting ready to charge back in his direction. "Run!" He took off, and many came to in time to run with him. A couple unlucky players did not.

"We're split up!" Asuna shouted. "But I think it works. Put our tanks on one side and hold his attention. Everyone else attack from behind!"

"Go go go!" Eulsam shouted to the group.

Asuna, Agil, Lisbeth and two others both got on one side of the monster. As it struck, Asuna shouted. "Wait! I just realized! If we're fighting Minotaur like this, we'll need some damage dealers to go behind us and clear out mobs… and alert us to traps!"

Sinon, Eulsam and a few others ran ahead and did just that. While Minotaur smashed and bashed with its twin hammers, the tanks backpedaled, dodged, and blocked (sort of) incoming attacks. It dealt great deals of damage though. Leafa and two other healers moved over to the tank side, followed by three more damage dealers including Klein and Silica. They helped the group move back faster, giving the tanks more room to breathe.

It was Xaela who managed the killing blow, however. She had saw an opening, and jumped onto the beast's back. Once she was close enough to its head, she plunged her sword into its spine, scoring a critical shot, which was enough to finish it off.

Minotaur collapsed to the ground. Xaela smiled and pumped her fist as she hit level seventy. She immediately equipped her sword to her off-hand, and the legendary weapon to her main. She had unlocked the Gladiator stance.

Holes opened in the maze walls, and the group moved out of them to the other side, fighting more mobs along the way. When they exited the maze. The first titan waited for them. It was a large, gross giant creature, and it wielded a gargantuan stone club.

In addition, there were mobs all around it. "Okay, here's the plan—" Asuna started but was interrupted by Xaela and Klein taking the charge. Many players followed.

"Go! I guess…" she said. The rest of them followed out with Asuna. The tanks immediately held the Titan's attention. They had to lead it off and away from the rest of the party as they slaughtered the mobs.

It was here that Klein got to be a superstar. He activated his special ability, but not had seen its true potential yet. After striking the first mob, and killing it instantly, he moved like lightning to the next, and cut its head off. Then the next, and the next, and he kept on going until a total of ten targets were slain. As he came out of his attack, he was sheathing his blade, and holding steady, waiting for another chance to attack.

Xaela was quite effective with her gladiator stance as well. They had so effectively downed the Erinyes earlier, that they didn't get a chance to witness the full power of the gladiator. Her special ability was linked to killing enemy targets. Each kill she made increased her speed, her restored her endurance, and restored a small portion of her health. Once the mobs were all down, the whole group attacked the Titan boss. There was nothing special about it. They struck it until it died.

From there, they moved on. They conquered the other two Titans with relative ease, even bringing down the four-armed goliath without a single player loss.

In their next fight, they would not be so fortunate. Now, things began to get harder. They reached a lake of tar, and on the other side lied Medusa's temple. Between here and there, they were to slay Hydra.

"It could come any minute now!" Eulsam said. "Everyone, prepare yourselves!"

"To kill it, we must strike its heart!" Asuna shouted. "Do not hit its head. More will spawn!"

Then, a creature began to emerge from the tar, it was huge, and once it left the lake, it filled nearly the entire room. The tar lake behind it has actually drained enough to reveal the path leading to Medusa's temple.

"That is… big…" Eulsam said.

"No monster is too big or powerful for us. We are the champions of Vearth!" Michiko shouted.

The beast then attacked. Each of its heads struck down on the party, and they all spread out. No hits for now at least. Asuna went straight for the beast's body, and activated her Valkyrie mode. Sinon was already aiming for the chest. Several others were doing the same.

Asuna saw the arrow bounce off of Hydra's scales like it was made of cardboard. Then, her spear slid back through her hand, and she dropped it. It could not pierce the monster's hide. The rest of the players slowed to a stop.

"Eulsam," Asuna shouted. "We may have a problem!"

The beast reared its three heads, and roared. They all attacked Asuna at first, and she knocked around like a rag doll. She deactivated Valkyrie to save her mana. Leafa healed her, and Agil, Lisbeth and one other pulled the attention of the heads away. They mostly defended, not wanting to accidentally cut the heads off.

Eulsam watched. He tried to think of what to do. "Magic users," he called. "Fire everything you've got at its torso!"

They all did as told. Fireballs, lightning stone, arcane bolts, you name it. All magic was directed at one spot. There was an explosion of raw energy, but nothing! The dust settled and the beast was unscathed.

Then, the monster charged to the back of the room, attacking the group and forgetting the tanks, who after not striking, lost any threat they had generated. The party scattered, and hydra's heads began to pluck up players and eat them.

Eulsam looked ahead, at Medusa's temple, and mounted up. He charged around the monster and headed straight for it.

"Where are you going?" Asuna shouted.

"To get some much need assistance!"

Eulsam reached Medusa's temple, and entered into it. "Hey! Medusa!" he shouted. The huge Gorgon rose up, and charged him. He turned and ran from the temple.

"Oh!" Asuna shouted. "So we can fight two extremely difficult bosses at once! What an idea!" Then she looked at the gorgon, and immediately looked away. "Wait a minute… that's perfect! Silica!"

Silica looked over to Asuna.

"Can you get on top of that thing's head?" she asked.

Silica blinked, and thought about it before smiling. She pulled out a rope, and made it into a lasso. "Who would have thought this would come in handy in a fight?" She wrangled one of the Hydra's heads, and used it swing herself up on top of it.

"Now what?"

Asuna pointed at the approaching Medusa. Silica nodded, and tugged hard on the ropes, and aimed the head of the beast to the other Gorgon. The plan worked, and it took a deep stare into Medusa's eyes. What followed was the beast turning completely into stone.

"Shield your eyes!" Eulsam said. "Everyone! Look away!" He charged back into the Hydra's lair.

Medusa readied her bow, and aimed it at Eulsam. He turned to look at the last second, and saw the arrow flying towards him. He jumped from his horse to dodge it.

"No Magic! We need it for Cronus!"

"I got this," Sinon said. She activated her special ability, and looked to see Medusa's head. Three arrows were shot before the Gorgon could turn to look at her. Once they were loosed, she shouted. "Hey you ugly bitch!" and then, she turned away and ducked.

The arrows hit Medusa's face, piecing her eyes, and writhed in pain. "Perfect!" Klein shouted. "No eyes, no deadly gaze!"

"Not only that, but she can't see where she's shooting!" Xaela shouted.

All of the snake heads on her head suddenly looked at Xaela. "Or not." Medusa aimed her bow towards Xaela, and she dodged the shot as she charged forward. Players were all mobbing the monster at once. Xaela was joined by Klein, and the two made quick work of the snake heads, whose focus was no distracted with aiming Medusa's bow.

It wasn't long before Medusa too fell to the ground, defeated.

"No rest!" Eulsam said. "Magic users, ready your biggest attacks!"

Within moments, they were in the celestial throne room. They were teleported in, one by one. Every spell caster launched their attacks. Cronus grumbled at first, his health drained immediately by forty percent.

"Sorry to interrupt your speech, my lord!" Asuna shouted. "But we're on a time limit here!"

Cronus froze everyone in place after that, and then activated his gravity altering effect. The players all found themselves floating around, unable to position themselves or do anything. "You want to face me?" Cronus shouted. "I am the universe! I cannot be defeated!"

Meanwhile, one of the spell casters was not yet finished casting their spells. He held a staff in the air and muttered words upon words. The length of his spell kept going on.

"That's got to be something big," Klein said.

Eulsam noticed him next, and nodded. "Everyone! Keep Cronus busy. Let the last caster finish his spell."

The magic users all did what they could to throw more spells. They whittled the paragon's health down a little more. Then, Cronus threw his hands down, and slammed every player into the ground, dealing lots of damage.

All except for the one unknown mage. Leafa saw his importance, used her magic to shield the incoming damage from the fall. Finally, the spell was finished.

"Ha!" he shouted. "Now you face the power of a true master of the arcane!" A huge light appeared above the man's head. Within an instant, it shot dozens of extremely high speed bolts of magical energy at Cronus. Then it repeated, then again until finally, the light vanished.

The players all got up. They caught their breath. Many surrounded the mage, and cheered him on. "Who is that guy?" Asuna asked.

"I'm not even sure… his game tag says MerWizOne." Eulsam said. "He must be from the west…"

"One more," Asuna said. "One more and we win. We'll be the first to obtain the most treasured, coveted item in the game."

Eulsam nodded. "No time for cheers!" he shouted. "We have one more challenge to face…"

Everyone nodded, and prepared themselves. Where Cronus's body lie, a strange distortion appeared in players' visions. A loud shriek that sounded of metal irritated all of the players. Then, it appeared before them, a single massive entity.

"Hecatoncheires…" Eulsam said. "And we made it with more than a hundred in our party."

Asuna activated Valkyrie, and charged. Every player followed her as the writhing, contorting aberration unfolded before them, ready to fight. Metal clashed as every melee player was suddenly engaged in combat. Many had to face two arms, and a few like Eulsam and Asuna faced three.

The casters and rangers kept their distance, hurling magic and launching arrows at their target. The sounds of scream filled the air as melee players taking on more than they could handle began to get cut, and injured.

Healers worked on them, but this model of fighting was unsustainable. The melee was hard to work with. Swords of the monster swung in every direction, and it was hard to even tell if it was an ally's weapon, or one of the enemy's.

"Anyone have any super weapons left?" Eulsam asked.

Asuna's Valkyrie stance ended, and her speed dropped a bit. "I'm afraid not…" Sampson entered his rage phase again, and assumed the Minotaur form, attacking the huge creature with two weapons now, his own, and one he had retrieved from the Minotaur.

"What about yours?" Asuna asked. "Kirito had that… that thing he did with two swords in SAO!"

"I don't have that!"

"What?"

"Sorry, but that one really is just Kirito. I don't get a super weapon. Dual wielding at level thirty is my super weapon!"

Everyone's health was dropping. "I still have one… less of a weapon though," Leafa said. She started casting a longer spell. When she was done, everyone's health shot up dramatically. And it kept on climbing. Even once players' health bars were filled completely, each strike became instantly healed.

This delayed it long enough. The players all brought the beast's health down slowly, but surely. "It's in its last ten percent!" Eulsam shouted. "Everyone. Use everything you got!"

Asuna activated Valkyrie again. Sampson his rage. The wizard began his super spell once more, and every player gave it their all to end the fight. After everything was done, the beast was slain.

It writhed and twisted, moving around and suddenly it imploded upon itself. The resulting pull of power sucked every player in, and before they knew it, they had all been teleported to the very hill where Gaea awaited their return.

They all groaned as the started to get up. When they realized it was all over, a loud cheer began. The energy in the air was ecstatic.

Eulsam approached Gaea during the buzz. "Eulsam," it said, her voice loud and overpowering the cheering. "You have fought long and hard against impossible odds. I present you with this gift as a token of my gratitude. But I have for you… an alternative."

"An alternative?" Eulsam asked. "What's that?"

"I can give you the fruit of life, and you can use it to bring Kirito back from the dead. Or… you can take instead my fruit of knowledge. You will learn upon its consumption every secret this world has to offer. There may be a lot more out there that would be far more helpful to you in the long run. But no amount of knowledge will help you save your friend's life. So choose… wisely."

There was a brief moment, where everyone stared at Eulsam, wondering of his choice. "It's not even a tough decision. I will take the fruit of life, Mother Earth. The only knowledge I need is that I have the opportunity to save someone… a friend. No knowledge could possibly be traded for that."

Asuna let out a sigh of relief.

"You doubted me?" Eulsam asked her, laughing a bit as he plucked the fruit from Gaea's finger. He tossed it to Asuna. "Don't worry about it. Go…"

Asuna nodded, and took it. She added it to her inventory, and mounted up. The charge went straight on from the rise where the party celebrated down the hill and through woods into Fort Freedom. When she rode in, the people there were not sure if that meant victory or defeat. The realization however soon reached their minds that if it were defeat, she wouldn't be here right now.

Kirito's body was kept safe, locked in a room in the top floor of the keep. Only one key existed to that door, and Asuna had it with her. She stood next to the bed his body lay upon, and looked down at him.

"Kirito," she said. "I don't know if you can hear me right now… if your ghost is watching this. I just… before I do this, I just…" She stopped for a moment, and wiped a tear from her eye. Unlike before, it was a tear of joy. "I remember way back when SAO first ended. How it must have been for you to see me lying there and that monster trying to take my mind forever. I've owed you everything since then…"

She withdrew the fruit from her inventory, and took a bite from it. The fruit itself vanished, and through her a certain power flowed. Her eyes lit up like stars, and it moved from her head into her hands. She looked at them. "Today, Kirito… today I got to save you."

She placed her hands down upon him, and his body shook. His back arched. His mouth and eyes opened, and for a moment, light blasted out of him as it drained from her. Whatever wounds he had were healed.

He reached up, and wrapped his arms around her again. He was still weak, so she held him up, and they shared a single, passionate kiss.

* * *

><p><span><em>ACT II<em>


	16. Chapter 16: The Oracle (Act II Opening)

_Month 4, Day 30_

The sound of the cracking of bones, even though it was just a sound effect, was rather disgusting, and brutal. The girl's necks snapped as she hit the stone courtyard below, and her health dropped instantly to zero. She had expected that of course, but she didn't know what to expect with what came next… the next fifteen days between being alive and being dead she had never prepared for.

In the real world, it would have been simpler. No waiting period, but now, like this, she had to witness the events that followed her death, unable to go back, unable to apologize or console her friends—not that she would have known how.

She was standing, outside of her corpse, and looking down at it. She heard some screams, some more from surprise than fear or sadness. She watched and the first person by her side was Kirito, followed by Asuna, then Leafa.

It was confusing at first. She felt no pain, and she looked at her hands to see if they were even still there, or if she was just a floating orb of consciousness. She discovered that she did maintain a ghostly appearance, and it matched her avatar perfectly.

This new version of the world was strange. There was as if she were looking at the world through a thick fog, and a white lens that took most of the color out of it. She could still hear and feel everything as if she were still alive. When she looked up, however, she saw the most amazing thing ever. The night sky in Texas couldn't match up to the vision of the sky before her.

She saw a globe in the sky where the sun ought to be, and in the globe were all of the worlds of the VRMMORPG's that had previously existed, before the death game began. From Aincrad to Gun Gale Online, it was all up there, and she could see every detail of those empty worlds in one glance.

_Month 5, Day 11_

Tex had followed her friends as much as she could. When they were mounted though, she couldn't keep up, and she stayed in town. She spent most of her time in spirit near Sampson. He seemed the most hurt by her suicide, and she wanted to make it better for him, somehow.

Sampson spent most of that time sitting up in the room, where they had taken her body, watching her and protecting her. What some players did to the corpses of dead players was rather unsavory, and so it became a habit among players to watch over their fallen brethren, just in case.

_Month 5, Day 15_

Kirito had returned from some quest, looking for a resurrection item. Tex followed him into town when he arrived, and all the way up to his room. She watched him sit alone, and bury his head into his knees as he leaned against a wall.

She could hear him frustrated, crying. She could tell that there was no coming back now. On her vitals, a buff displayed. "Ghost." It had less than sixty seconds remaining. Tex sat next to him, and cried too. She regretted her actions after seeing what it did to her friends, how she had hurt them. She would take it all back if she could, but could not. "I'm sorry," she muttered, though none but herself could hear. "I'm so sorry…"

As her time was up, she felt a tug. She looked around, but saw nothing. The pulling continued and it seemed to not come from any direction, nor was it as if it were any specific part of her that was being pulled. It got fiercer, and she could not fight back against it.

She let out a scream as she suddenly found herself being dragged out of the room, and through the air at incredible speeds. She watched the scenery go past. Forest flew past and she saw herself going past the desert, past Oasis Plateau, and past the Green Mountains where later Eulsam would meet mother Earth, and embark on the great raid of Tartarus, and then farther still, until she was dragged back down to the earth.

She kicked and screamed, writhing and grabbing onto soil and dirt, trying to escape. It was fruitless. She was turned around, and she looked up towards her feet, in the direction she was being pulled. There, she saw something, what seemed like a collection of souls, all being pulled into a single point, a stone structure of some kind. She cried out more. "Somebody! Help me! Please!"

She turned back to her belly, and tried to grab into the soil, which of course did not work. Her last recorded word was another, long cry for help. And then, the footage turned to white noise as she crossed over the entrance into the building.

* * *

><p><em>Year 2, Month 6, Day 16<em>

GothGod, the Black Prophet and Herald of the Death Oath, was leading a normal life for the past half of a month. He stayed in Duneclimb, knowing he was being watched, but also knowing that soon, he would have to meet with his guild once again. Then, he got a message, but not through the player interface.

It came to him on a sheet of paper that appeared randomly in his coat pocket. This way, no name could be seen by those in the IVRTF watching his footage. He wrote one back, and sent it in the same message, and then he left Duneclimb.

Once outside of the city, he pulled out a handful of black powder from his inventory. He held it out in front of him, and let the sands fall from his fist, and whispered to them a spell. And then, his whole form fell apart into sand.

In the Bonechill Mountains, where GothGod charmed Kirito, he appeared in a cloud of black smoke. There, all around him, were members of his guild. Like himself, they wore dark cloaks, and plague masks, and their levels and in-game names were masked with magic. When they spoke, their words came in whispers from which nothing identifiable could be distinguished.

"What news do you have for me?" GothGod asked.

"We have been tracking the rate at which players are dying, as you have told us. Prophet… players are dying at slower and slower rates, and we are still more than two thousand away from what we need to move on with our plans."

The Black Prophet sighed, and brushed his hand over his chin.

"What's more," the whispers spoke. "We have learned that Kirito has been brought back from the dead. There was an artifact called the Fruit of Life, given to Eulsam by Gaea, a sentient AI as a reward for clearing Tartarus. It passed from his hands to Asuna's, and she raised just a few hours before his time was out."

"That's okay," GothGod said. "Kirito was more a kill for amusement, and one saved life will not push us back any farther. Besides, I was always hoping that we could kill him ourselves. I had only wished he managed to fulfil his mission before that time came. It… only means we will have more fun dealing with the two of them later."

"But my Prophet, she is a Valkyrie. If we allow her to grow too high in levels, she will be a great threat to us and our plans."

"The last of the Valkyries," GothGod said. "Don't forget, we made a point of killing them early on, before their classes became known. One Valkyrie will not stop us. What of the Paladins?"

"There remain twenty-seven of them in the game. Two have reached a level high enough to acquire their special ability. And there is also the wizard. He has proved quite crafty in escaping our sights. He appeared in Tartarus, and laid the final blow on the god, Cronus."

"Which means…"

"Yes," the whispers said. "And we've confirmed it. His in-game name is MerWizOne. But he calls himself the Yellow Wizard. He is in possession of the Sands of Time."

"We need to accelerate our plans."

"How?"

In response, GothGod merely smiled at his friends. He re-equipped his plague mask.

* * *

><p>After Kirito's resurrection, the group met in private at Fort Freedom. It was a large room, built as a bunker beneath the keep. The group was gathered around a wooden table, and all sat in chairs as they talked.<p>

"There is no doubt about it," Michiko said. "I've seen that charm before, and I've thought it over and made certain, but I only saw it once. It is a spell only known by a handful of players. Death Oath."

"Kirito," Eulsam said. "Is there anything you remember? About how you got that paper? About the events leading up to your black out?"

Kirito shook his head. "It's like I said. The first thing I remember is being in the Bonechill Mountains, when you arrived. I held that paper in my hand and read GothGod's name on it, and then put it back into my pocket. I had control over myself, but it's like I was a different person. I had two objectives to focus on, killing Asuna, and killing GothGod. I fought until I died trying."

"And that's when you woke up as a ghost?" Michiko asked.

"Right… and I still wasn't free of the effects, not until you manipulated my body into deleting the item. In the sky I saw all of the old virtual game worlds, empty of players, like they were just all packed away and put to the side. The events leading up to the blackout are hazy at best. I'm sorry I don't remember much more."

"Alright," Eulsam said. "Then let's go over everything we know about Death Oath."

"They're careful, and secretive. They don't let anyone into their group except people that they can truly trust. If they find themselves in a losing battle, they destroy evidence and disappear with little trace. They use black magic, including spells to mask their identities and voices. They kill players, but not as much as other PK guilds. They rather enjoy killing players in fashions that bring about great emotional trauma, and their favored method is the use of those paper charms, using innocent players to make their moves for them."

"Who is GothGod?" Asuna asked.

"I don't even know that," Kirito said. "Some small fraction of my urge to hunt and kill remains though, and it's focused on him, whoever he is. I have a gut feeling that I'm somehow connected to him, and that he is indeed one of our targets."

"We can't assume anything," Eulsam said. "For all we know, the effects of the charm are simply still lingering on you, but since you have your will back, and you know Asuna, whatever urge you may have to kill her is simply overshadowed. We can't assume that you have these assumptions for any reason other than the effects of that charm."

Both Kirito and Asuna were disturbed by the thought that the charm may still have an impact on his choices. It meant that somewhere, some subconscious thought process was still telling him to kill her as well.

"Not to be mean," Michiko said to him. "But you should be careful. I've never seen a case of these charms where the spell was broken before the player killed their target."

"We could assume that Death Oath has a base somewhere in the Chillwind Mountains," Sampson said. "It is a logical assumption, anyways. It may explain why so many players have reported memory loss, and despite exploration so little is actually known about the area."

"I doubt they could push back the full force of a player army if we sent on after them," Eulsam said. "But it's also an excellent hiding ground. I don't feel comfortable sending scouts in there. We should keep a watch on the borders of the zone when possible, and warn players of the potential dangers."

"I agree," Michiko said. "The Black Wardens have been fighting them for a long time, they are more familiar with their magic, and will be more prepared to resist, fight and counter it. I will make sure we investigate the matter more fully."

"Do make sure they are careful in their endeavors," Eulsam said.

Michiko nodded. "Moving… what is everyone's plans now that we've cleared Tartarus?"

"Kirito and I have decided a long vacation is in order. We're going to Oasis Plateau, to visit the Temple of Gaea and spend some time there. It's a beautiful place and after the close call, we'd like some alone time."

"Mother Earth is the most powerful being we've yet encountered, her temple ought to be a safe place. I hope you enjoy yourselves," Eulsam said. "I have spent too much time away from Newberg, myself. I need to check in, and make sure the Protectors are all operating properly." He turned to Xaela next. "Captain, I am promoting you to brigadier general."

Xaela blinked, surprised. "W-what?" she asked. "From captain?"

"Yes. I am stationing you here, in Fort Freedom. Oversee the operations and allow the Black Wardens to use this fortress as a base of operations in their efforts against Death Oath."

"We'll also be returning to Newberg," Sampson said. Lisbeth was sitting next to him. "I mean… Liz and I."

"We're going to be dating…" Lisbeth said. "But if you ever need a blacksmith, you'll know where to find me!"

"I'm going back too," Silica said. "After Tartarus, I need a break, and the boost in levels should give me plenty of an edge to rejoin the adventuring groups later on."

"I also plan on returning," Agil said. "I agree, a break is in order. I also want to try opening up a shop again. Maybe I can sell many of my valuable artifacts to lower level players who need it more."

"Aww, come on," Klein said. "What's going to happen to our adventures? We had a nice big party, finally. And now we're splitting up?"

"It looks like it," Leafa said. "I don't need any vacations yet. I'd like to keep going, so I'll stay with you. Besides. I know how hard healers are to come by at high levels."

"I wish to keep going on, as well," Sinon said. "Looks like it'll be us three against the world. We'll need to find some more players to join us."

"I would go guys," Xaela said. "But Eulsam seems to think I'm needed here."

"Well," Kirito said, getting up. "Looks like our group's disbanding for the first time in a long time. We'll all see each other again, soon."

"Yeah, definitely," Asuna said.

"Alright, Kirito," Klein said. "But don't forget, you missed out on Tartarus! You're the lowest level member in our group now. You'll have to catch up sooner or later."

"It's fine, I'll spend a day or two here and there training. Should be enough to catch up at the rate you play."

Klein snickered and shook his head. "Don't be so confident, huh?"

"And don't you be too confident either, Klein," Kirito said. "Or else we'll end up having to find another Tartarus and then you'll be behind."

"Alright," Eulsam said. "Meeting adjourned. Everyone out. I need to hold a briefing with the Protectors before I leave."

The group all hugged and had their good-byes before they each headed off to their own destinations.

* * *

><p>Fifteen days later, on the first day of the next month, Asuna and Kirito were enjoying their time in Oasis Plateau. The couple stayed at the Temple of Gaea, which had been built from the Temple of Fire. As the story went, the Temple of Fire was always the Temple of Gaea, and Salamandraus's minions merely had a temporary hold on the palace.<p>

Asuna and Kirito woke one morning, and went out onto the balcony of their large room at the top floor of a building on the temple grounds. The view of the sun rising over the land was beautiful, and they enjoyed many mornings like this. Today was different, however.

The temple was made of stone and marble, and the rooms had no doors but only magical barriers to keep unwanted guests out of a player's room. Asuna, as a champion of the Tartarus raid, was a kind of guest of honor at the temple, and so their room was a luxury suite.

"Lady Asuna," a voice came from just inside of the room. It was another player, who had become a priestess of earth and had access to all rooms because she was trusted.

Kirito and Asuna turned their gaze from the sky to their suite, where the woman stood. She wore the same outfit as all of the priestesses there: a green and white robes, adorned with flowers and leaves.

"Mother Earth has called for you. A new quest is available it seems, and she seeks players of a level much too high for any other travelers staying here. Therefore, you are the only one who can take it."

* * *

><p>Asuna and Kirito went together to the Altar of Gaea, where Mother Earth, in a humanoid form sat on a throne of plants. She wore the same outfit as her priestesses, but was tall by comparison to any human, standing at eight feet. She also glowed, a white light always appearing to emanate from her presence.<p>

"Asuna," she said as she got up from her throne. Her robes were much longer than the priestesses, and they draped behind her like a long wedding dress. "I am glad you have come."

"I heard you needed me," she said.

"Yes. My oracles have foreseen a great darkness. Something is coming soon that will threaten all life on this planet. She has seen a dark shadow blot out the sun, and burn the earth with fire. She has even told me, that I too am in danger from this threat. The future, as you well know, is always uncertain, even to gods like myself. She has foreseen these things, but in a subsequent vision has seen a place where lies the tome of our salvation. The evolving world around us has opened up the gates of a kingdom old. This kingdom fell to dark powers that lingered from the evil let forth in this world from the beginning of the universe… beings of great destructive force. And in that kingdom's capital city of Al'Kuraz there once stood a library which contained within it all of the secrets of the world. Unfortunately, those records were devoured by the darkness long ago, save for one book which was hidden away in secret. It was a manual passed down from king to king which held all of the secrets of a once powerful kingdom. I have been told that the key to our salvation lies within."

"So you need us to go read this book," Kirito said.

"No," Gaea said. "I need Asuna to bring this book back to me. It is not written in a language you know. Not even I know which language it is, but if you bring me this book, I can discover its language, and grant you the power to read it then."

"We can handle it, together," Asuna said, boldly. "Kirito and I have face many challenges—"

"Not like this, young Asuna. For this, you will need more than love and confidence." The oracle now spoke. She previously stood next to the throne. "I have foreseen you on this journey. You will encounter new allies, and together, you will retrieve the manual of our salvation."

"What does that mean?" Kirito asked.

"It means," Gaea said. "Gather your friends. The time to bravely journey into the unknown has come once again."

* * *

><p>"Glad you could make it, Klein," Kirito said. They were in the court of the temple, where previously, the group encountered Flame Battalion. Now the court was a lively place, with traders and adventurers.<p>

"Yeah, we were in the neighborhood so we figured, hey, why not?"

Leafa ran up from behind the group and hugged Kirito. "Kirito!" she shouted at him. "How've you been? Enjoying your honeymoon?"

"Honeymoon?" Kirito questioned. He then waved his hands dismissively. "No, no. This wasn't a honeymoon."

Leafa pulled away and greeted her with a hug as well. "He's still waiting for the right moment, huh?"

Asuna chuckled at her, and nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Is that why you invited us here, Kirito?" Klein asked. "Going to throw a wedding invitation on us?"

Kirito put a hand behind his head and shook it in response. "No," he said.

"Sadly," Asuna continued. "That's not the case. We've called you here because we've picked up a high level quest. We need to travel to a demon riddled zone that recently opened to the northwest of Oasis Plateau."

"What for?" Sinon asked.

"A book," Kirito said. "Mother Earth says it's going to be pretty important that we get it and bring it back to her. There was a prophecy about a great deal of destruction and the end of the world."

"End of the world?" Klein asked. "Like as in… we can finally get out of here?"

"No," Asuna said. "More like apocalypse now, where lots of players die."

"I see," Klein said. "Well! We best get going. Is anyone else going to join us?"

"We haven't gotten a response from Eulsam, Xaela or Michiko. Lisbeth, Silica, Agil and Sampson are staying in Newberg for the time being." Kirito looked out towards the door. "We better get going!"

The group then all left the gates, and mounted horses to head towards their destination.

* * *

><p>They rode to the northwestern edge of the plateau, where that zone met with both the Dune Sea and Darkwood. There, they decided to rest for a night. Most of the monsters along this path had been cleared, but going into Darkwood it would not be the case.<p>

"I call first watch!" Klein said.

"Same," Sinon said.

"Asuna and I can handle the second watch," Leafa said. "Kirito, you're the lowest level out of all of us now, so you just get some sleep, alright?"

Kirito glared at Leafa, and waved his hand. "Alright, I see your point," he said. "I'll just be happy to get a full night's rest."

After dinner, the group slept for the night. During the second watch, Leafa and Asuna talked. "So," Leafa asked. "How's my cousin been doing since he got back to the land of the living?"

"He's been fine," Asuna said. "A little grumpy like he woke up from a really long nap sometimes, but overall it's been a good rest living here."

"Any more news about the baby?"

"I can't see her, of course. But I'm told that she's healthy. Since Kirito and I aren't officially husband and wife yet, my mother decided to take her in and raise her. I hope we get out of this before too long though… I don't want to think about what kind of life she would have if I just never woke up."

"That's a depressing thing to think about," Leafa said. "Sorry I brought it up."

"No, you're fine! I just worry, but for now I know she's in good hands. My mother can be strict, but I can't say that I didn't have a good childhood, nor can I say that I wasn't raised well."

"What about our family?"

"They don't seem to want to tell me anything about that… It makes me nervous, like something might be wrong between them."

"That's a shame," Leafa said. "We do come from different worlds outside of this one…"

"Leafa," Asuna said, looking past her. Leafa thought Asuna was looking directly at her, and was a bit confused by the deep staring. "Look out!" Asuna moved to shove Leafa out of the way, only to be hit with a dart on her left shoulder.

She plucked it and then noticed a status pop up on her character. She felt immediately dizzy, and tried to get up, but instead swayed and fell to the ground.

* * *

><p>Asuna was the first to wake up, and when she did, she awoke to the sound of cheering and chanting. The ground beneath her was rough dirt, and as she came to, she saw high stone walls all around her. Then she noticed that her hands were bound by rope behind her, and she felt something hard on her back—a short stone pillar.<p>

She looked left and right. Kirito, Klein, Leafa and Sinon were there. Then she also noticed Xaela and Eulsam. As her vision adjusted, she saw that the group of them had been bound to the floor of what appeared to be a gladiatorial arena.

Around the top of the stands were flags, black in color with a red fist. It was the symbol of the Red-Handed, but that couldn't be right. They dismantled them… didn't they?

Before her, up high on a balcony that faced out into the ring stood a man wearing red silks. His right hand, which he held out, pointing to the arena floor, was red in color. "The 'heroes' of Vearth," he said, and put a sarcastic stress on the word 'heroes.' "…against the champions of our arena! The question is not who will win? But… how long can these heroes last against the might of our strongest champions? Ring master… let's get this party started…" The man sat down on a throne, and watched the arena.

Asuna could see below the balcony an iron barred door opening, and players wearing bronze armor ready to come through it.


	17. Chapter 17: The Armies of Darkness

Asuna looked around, trying to come up with a plan. Everyone else was just starting to wake up, so it would be up to her to make those critical first moves. She struggled with the ropes that bound her wrists before pushing her back against the pillar, using it to stand up.

She only got halfway up before realizing that the pillar was very short, and once she was standing, the ropes wrapped around it were loose. She shook them off, and looked ahead at the opening door. The enemies were starting to come through it.

"Asuna?" Xaela was next to wake. She did the same as Asuna and freed herself.

"Inventory," Asuna said as she flipped through it. "It's been cleared! Except…"

"They gave us weapons," Xaela said. She looked at the oncoming players, and looked around. "Wake up!" she shouted. "Time to fight!"

The other players began to wake up. Xaela and Asuna equipped bronze weapons from their inventories. They were what they were used to, but of less quality. One by one the group all equipped what they had.

The opposing gladiators equipped their own variety of weapons, and there were twice as many of them as there were in Kirito's group. They stood around the ring, waiting for Asuna and the others to make the first move.

There was a pause, a moment where the players all took a breath, and then Asuna moved forward on one of the gladiators. She had a bronze shield and spear, and charged forward with the shield up, and the tip of the spear aimed outward.

The one she engaged moved against her. He had a bronze flail, and moved out the way of her attack. As he side-stepped, she turned and drove the shield into him, keeping him away while he swung wildly with his weapon. A gladiator on her other side had a scimitar, and moved in to attack her open right side. With her spear, she swung wide, knocking the enemy away, and then turned her back to the wall, and put her defensive stance up again.

Kirito used dual bronze short swords, and attacked the nearest target to him. He struck wildly and disarmed a gladiator who wielded a two-handed hammer. He was forced to stop the assault though and put up a defense against another attacker.

Sinon was the only one without her usual weapon. Her bows was traded for a pair of daggers, which she wasn't sure how to use. She stayed back, and Klein stepped in front of her. With his special ability, he moved to strike like lightning, impaling and killing the first target on a bronze katana. Then he quickly bounced to another target, and struck him, but failed to land a killing blow, ending his lightning strikes early.

Eulsam wielded two scimitars, and backed Klein up, finishing off the injured enemy, and then turning to attack another. Xaela had a short sword in her left hand, and a spear in her right. She used the spear and spun around, whirling it to keep enemies from charging in. Once that move was finished, she leaped at a target, charging with her spear.

The gladiator went to parry the spear with a mace, but it was a mistake. Xaela's spear thrust was a false strike, and as she moved it to the side, she turned into the player with her sword, and dealt a fatal blow with a slash across the neck.

With that, her special ability was active. Thirty seconds... that's how long her Blood Bath buff would last. She immediately went to attack another enemy. From her buff, she received a five percent boost in spirit, which amounted to a five percent increase in strength, vitality and agility.

Leafa, behind the others, tried to start casting her mass disarm. However when she started doing her usual cast, nothing happened. "Kirito," she said. "I can't use my magic here…"

Sinon looked around, and noticed that along the walls were marked sigils, painted in red. "There," she pointed at them. "It's some kind of magic nullification, I bet."

Once Xaela got started, she didn't stop. With one down, she moved onto the next. Killing another target refreshed her Blood Bath to its thirty second duration, and increased its effectiveness. Now her spirit had a ten percent boost.

Though Asuna, Klein, Eulsam and Kirito killed their fair share, Xaela scored the most kills in the arena. Once those gladiators were down, the man on the throne smiled. "Send in the second wave!" he shouted.

The iron bars opened again, and three more players came out. These players were armored and bronze, and wielded iron weapons. By the time they entered the ring, Xaela's buff had ended. Kirito went straight for the middle one, activating his special ability. It had changed however, since Sword Art Online, and instead of a single burst of multiple attacks, it was now a whirlwind maneuver.

He spun towards his foe, the dance of blades unable to be countered, and dealt damage to not only his target, but the two enemies who stood near him. The charge ended after he had passed the center target.

Each of these three gladiators had two handed weapons. The center one had an axe, and the two on his sides wielded large swords. Once Kirito was finished, Asuna charge in as before, aiming for the middle gladiator, and impaling him. She finished the player with little effort, and he fell to the ground.

Eulsam focused on the left, and Xaela on the right, pulling their attention away from Kirito and Asuna, so that the two would strike their enemies from behind, finishing the second wave.

"Is that all you got?" Eulsam shouted, pointing one of his blades to the man sitting on the balcony. "We could do this all day!"

The man stood up, and leaned on the stone wall around the rise. A different gate opened up from behind the player group, and from it stepped a minotaur. This one was not as large or powerful as the one they faced in Tartarus, but still wielded two two-handed weapons, and was still nearly twice their size.

In each of its hands, it had a chain mace, the handle made of iron and the balls of granite. This monster also wore a bronze plate over its chest, and a bronze pleated kilt.

"Aww, hell," Eulsam said. He moved towards the minotaur and readied his weapons. He and Xaela stood to the monster's left, and Kirito and Klein stood to the right. Asuna readied her shield and spear, and face it head on.

The minotaur stepped forward, and swung the first of its maces towards Asuna's right side. She turned slightly to deflect the hit off of her shield. The second swing came from overhead, and she rolled back to the left to dodge the attack.

Kirito went in from his side, and took a swing at the minotaur's back. Most of the damage was absorbed by the armor, and he bounced off to let Klein move in.

Simultaneously, Eulsam went for the beast's feet, slashing at unprotected flesh, but still barely surfacing damage. Xaela jumped at the monster, sheathing her sword and driving the spear down into an opened spot on the monster's shoulder. She did the most damage.

Klein moved in after Kirito, but saved his lightning quick strike for when they faced multiple enemies. He swiped the blade against the beast's arm, surfacing little damage.

When the minotaur swung again, he swung wide, the ball of the mace and the chain forcing Eulsam to double back, and Klein as well when he swung the other way with his second weapon. Asuna blocked the first attack easily, but it drove her back, and the second strike hit her from the side, knocking her down.

Kirito, now facing the creature's back, jumped at it, and drove both blades down into its neck. It huffed, and whipped around to strike Kirito back. Klein moved quickly and thrust his blade up underneath an exposed point in the armor. His bronze weapon broke off in the process.

Kirito was flung off, and Xaela lost the grip on her spear. Now with only a sword, she moved forward, and stabbed the beast's foot. The minotaur was down at forty percent health, Asuna was at sixty.

After Kirito was struck with both swings though, his health had dropped to ten percent, and he was stunned.

Eulsam ran towards him, and took the first hit. Afterwards, his health dropped to fifty percent. The minotaur swung again at Kirito, and Asuna jumped at the beast, dropping her shield to lay a stronger blow. She struck right at the mid-point of the monster's back and it interrupted its attack, causing the heavy mace end to land just next to Kirito.

Sinon threw one of her daggers. It dinged as it hit the monster's armor, but it got its attention. The minotaur whipped around again with both weapons swinging. Every player dodged the swing. Asuna pulled her sword, leaving her spear inside of the beast, and cut at the monster's leg. She scored a critical as she severed its Achilles' tendon, causing it to drop to its knee.

Now with only ten percent health, Xaela finished the beast off, taking her sword and hacking at its head. It fell to the ground, dead.

Asuna helped Kirito up as the front door opened again, and two more minotaurs emerged. They had the same armor, and one of them wielded a single, huge sword, while the other had two heavy battle axes.

"We'll never make it through this," Eulsam said.

At that moment, two members from the crowd jumped into the ring, and then two more. They were completely covered in cloth, and they pulled black steel weapons from their inventories to face the minotaurs.

There was a gasp in the audience, and then everyone started running as more of the cloaked figures appeared in the stands. The man in the throne stood up and looked around, only to feel cold steel touch the back of his neck. He froze.

"Playtime's over, Vice Commander," a familiar voice said. Michiko stood behind him, and held her special weapon close to him. He pulled his own weapon out, and quickly turned back and away from the weapon.

Michiko attacked, but he defended himself. He kept his sword up, and when Michiko made her first strike, he pushed into her, keeping her from attacking off of a counter. She spun her weapon to parry, barely stopping the thrust of the long sword. Afterwards, the man flipped back and into the ring.

The fighting had already started, and the minotaurs were an easy battle for the properly equipped Black Wardens. The Vice Commander fled back through the main gate however during the combat.

Michiko jumped down to chase him, but stopped, knowing it would suit her guild mates and her friends better to aid in the battle against the monsters.

Once they were down, and the arena was cleared, the Black Wardens approached Kirito and his group.

"Michiko," Eulsam said. "I'm so glad you're here."

"How did you know to find us?" Kirito asked as Michiko handed him a health potion.

"I didn't," Michiko said. "You got lucky. We already had this attack planned out. You made good bait though… kept everyone in one place while we made our move."

"Who are these guys?" Asuna asked. "I thought Red-Handed was dealt with."

"It was… but then the runners and the jail birds all got together again," Eulsam said. "This is The Order of the Red Hand, the largest of the many Red-Handed successor guilds. I didn't know they had grown so large until my scouts reported about their operations in the Dune Sea."

"I just learned of their presence here, myself," Michiko said. "The lack of terrain and natural landmarks makes it an easy place to hide, and trap travelers. We discovered here though that they're a lot bigger than we thought… even bigger than the old Red-Handed. Many of the Red-Handed splinter factions have been absorbed into this one."

"Any idea how many?" Klein asked.

"Resources indicate that their numbers are upwards of two thousand players. They're the largest PK'er guild in history." Michiko nodded to another one of the wardens who had supplied this information.

"What are you guys doing out here, and why is your level so low, Kirito?" Michiko asked.

"Haven't had much time to train," he said. "I got a lot of catching up to do…"

"Well I suggest you stay back until you get back up to a high level again. You'll find that the average player is only a few levels beneath you nowadays," Xaela said. "You would be considered a medium level…"

"And it's not been easy training with such a small group," Klein said. He looked at Asuna, and blinked. "But Asuna looks like she's still the highest level member of our party."

"The Tartarus bump is wearing off," she said. "I'll have to train too. Speaking of which. We're out here for a quest…"

Sinon pointed northward. "A new zone opened up called the Kingdom of Al'kur. The dungeon of the Ruins of Al'kuraz has a quest item we seek. It's somewhere on the border of Darkwood."

"Darkwood," Michiko said. "I've been looking to establish a foothold in that territory for a while now. I could join your party and my wardens could come with us."

"I guess I'll get to plant the flag of the Protector's in this place then," Eulsam said. "Xaela, call for reinforcements. We're going to turn this town into a base of operations, and a safe haven within the desert region." Xaela nodded, and began sending out the guild message. "As for me," Eulsam said. "I'll stay here and see to it that everything is set up well."

"We could use you, Eulsam," Kirito said. "It's important."

"As important as fighting the PK'ers?"

Kirito's group all nodded. "Mother Earth herself sent us on this quest," Asuna said. "Some kind of apocalypse event has been predicted by an oracle in the Temple of Gaea."

"I don't believe it…" Eulsam said. "If it were an NPC maybe, but the oracles there are players. How could a player see into the future?"

"I don't see any reason to be skeptical. The game could be telling players what lies ahead, it's not unbelievable," Leafa said.

"Regardless," Kirito said. "Gaea believes her, and she wants us to retrieve this quest item. We all owe her."

Asuna nodded, and then Eulsam agreed. "Alright," he said. "I will travel with you, and Xaela will come with us. All we need now is Sampson and the others, and our old party will be back together."

"We invited them, but they've decided to stay in Newberg. They're enjoying the quiet life for now, it seems." Kirito started to head back out of the arena. "Now, let's go find our weapons…"

* * *

><p>The group traveled northwards, into the Darkwood, and now they stood at the entrance of the Kingdom of Al'kur. There were two huge statues that depicted large, canine humanoids. The statues appeared to have their arms crossed, and on their sides were scimitars. They stood at either side of the entrance, a pathway paved in black stones that began just inside of Darkwood, and seemed to run through the kingdom, all the way down to a pyramid structure at the center of the valley below.<p>

"Here," Michiko said. Her wardens began moving, pulling out tools and working with materials. They started constructing their outpost. "We shall call this outpost Darkwatch, and it will serve as a base for players traveling and fighting both in Darkwood and in Al'kur." Some of the wardens used magic to quickly assemble structures.

"And we should probably rest here for the night," Eulsam said. "So when we traverse the new zone, we will be ready for it. Do we know if any other players have made it in yet?"

"There'd be no way of telling," Kirito said.

"I hope they were careful. I was the only player in all of Oasis Plateau with a high enough level for the quest to open up."

"There's nothing we can do about if they weren't," Eulsam said. "What kind of monsters should we expect to see in this zone?"

"Demons," Michiko said as she stood next to him, and looked out onto the bleak forest before them. "There were many in Darkwood, and there was already much speculation about a demon occupied zone nearby. The dungeon I cleared also had a demonic army, and a demon boss."

"How do we counter demons?" Kirito asked.

"Magic," Leafa said. "Light, holy and divine magic are the best. Arcane after that, and then water. Asuna's Valkyrie ability turns all of her attacks to divine type. And my arcane magic will serve a good bit of help. But it means I'll be healing less if I do."

"No one else in our party has any of those," Sinon said. "Even if Lisbeth and the rest were here, neither do they."

"Michiko," Klein said. "Any of your wardens have those?"

Michiko shook her head. "We specialize in black magic types, and psionics. All focused on countering Death Oath. We never recruited any other magic users."

"It'll be a tough battle," Kirito said.

"Kirito," Asuna told him. "I want you to stay in the back for these fights."

"What?" Kirito said. "Not a chance."

"Kirito… Please do that, at least until we know what we're up against. I don't want to lose you again. There's no telling if we'll ever get another chance to resurrect a player. Besides, you'll get experience even if you're not doing anything, as long as you're in the party."

"Asuna, I won't stand back while everyone else fights." He pulled her close, and looked into her eyes. "I know you want to protect me. But I know the risks I'm taking."

Leafa pulled Kirito away and slapped him across the face. "Don't even think about it! We went through hell and back to save you. People died so you could be here today, Kirito. And what about us, huh? We don't want to see you die again. At least play this game carefully, and put a little more value on your life. You owe us that much at least." While Leafa spoke, Michiko pulled out some items, and started perform some of her black magic.

Kirito looked back to Asuna, and then to Leafa. He nodded. "Okay," he said, crossing his arms. "But if it looks like you even might be in danger, I'm stepping in."

"Here," Michiko said to Kirito, holding out her hand. "Take this. And you." She held out her other hand to Asuna. "Here…"

Kirito took the items, and so did Asuna. They were necklaces, each with a pendant half of a skull, broken in half like a friendship charm. "Kirito, half of the damage you take will be dealt to Asuna instead. Likewise, half of the damage she takes will be dealt to you."

Kirito and Asuna looked at the items, then to each other.

"That's not all. Half of the health each of you regenerates will also be transferred to the other. Now, neither of you can possibly die alone. But if one of you dies, you will both die. This will ensure that Kirito will not take his life for granted, but it will also allow him to fight on the front lines without being so fragile, so that Asuna need not worry for him."

Eulsam blinked and looked at Michiko. "Those… those could be extremely useful. Do you have any more of them?"

She shook her head. "Some of the items required to make those were quest rewards, and I cannot make another pair. They aren't bound to you specifically, but if you both wear them, they will become active."

Kirito and Asuna nodded to each other, and equipped the items. "Alright," Eulsam said. "Get some rest…"

* * *

><p>In a mountainous region to the far west, GothGod and his entourage of Death Oath met near a huge chasm. He did not wear his plague mask here, and his hood was down, revealing his short, unkempt hair. "Are you sure," one whisper said. The chasm before them was huge, and filled with a dense fog that hid away all that might be down there.<p>

"Please!" someone shouted. "I don't want to die!"

"Shut up," GothGod said to the poor young girl. She looked to be in her older teen years, and wore nothing but torn rags. Her face was beaten, and she was covered in blood. Though it had not been her own. The Black Prophet hit her on the face, and she shuddered and cried, afraid for her life. "This is the fastest way to set things back on track."

"We're not talking about a spell, here," the whispers spoke. "This monster is dangerous, and sentient."

"And mean… he may not even hear us."

GothGod pulled the girl by her hair, dragging her towards the chasm. "Oh, great one!" he shouted into the pit. "My group has brought you a token to earn your favor, so that we may speak with you!"

There was a few moments of silence. "Maybe he's asleep," a whisper said.

"And what…" a powerful, deep voice echoed. It was so loud that the ground itself trembled. "…would you offer me in exchange for our meeting, mortals?"

"A treat!"

"No… no, please let me go!"

The Black Prophet hit the girl again. "Your favorite, I hear. A frightened little human girl… dipped in lamb's blood! We can salt her too, if you wish… This is not in exchange for anything but your time, so that we may discuss a more serious offer!"

At that, the end of a tail, covered in scarlet and crimson scales reached up from the pit and wrapped itself around the girl. She screamed and cried as she was pulled back down, but was soon after silenced. And then, the ground shook, and the fog stirred as something began to climb up. The rest of the Death Oath lost their courage, and took a few steps back, ready to run. GothGod stood still, and smiled… something red like fire reflected in his eyes.

* * *

><p>The next day, Kirito's group woke up. They realized something then incredibly odd about the zone they were heading into. The sun did not shine upon this land. Though it was broad daylight, it was dark beyond the pass, and through it, they could even see the stars in the sky.<p>

"What is this place?" Leafa asked.

"I thought about it last night," Eulsam said. "Those are jackals." He pointed up at the statues. "In Egyptian mythology, Anubis, the god of darkness, reigned over a mysterious otherworldly place."

"So there's a good chance Anubis is our next boss?" Klein asked.

"Another common misconception," Eulsam said. "Anubis wasn't evil, despite being a god of darkness. In Egyptian lore, Anubis would come with an army of jackals should ever an enemy beyond human understanding threaten their kingdom. Much like Cerberus guarding the gates of Tartarus, Anubis was responsible for keeping great evil from the world. Perhaps the two myths are somehow related…"

"If an army of demons inhabits this zone," Sinon said. "It looks like Anubis failed."

"It's never good to assume darkness equates to evil," Michiko said.

"Yeah," Asuna said to Klein. "Don't forget, you're traveling with the Black Warden and the Black Swordsman."

Klein nodded, and the group moved forward, into the dark zone beyond.

* * *

><p>Once in the zone, the group found themselves face to face with one such demon. This monster had no legs or tail, and appeared to float above the ground. It was huge, towering nearly fifty feet over the players. This demon appeared like a zombie, with skin tightly bound to bone, and from its floating torso, purple flames spilled out. From its skull-like head sprouted two large horns, and four short tusks. In its two arms, it wielded a single, huge axe that was green in color. From its eyes and mouth spewed more of the purple flames.<p>

It attacked Asuna, hitting hard. Though she blocked, she took ten percent of her health in damage. Kirito then was dropped to ten percent as well. Sinon charged her special ability, and shot three arrows at the demon. It hit its head, but didn't score a critical strike, and dealt only a small fraction of damage.

Leafa's job was easy, since healing was automatically split between Kirito and Asuna. Before the others could move into an attack, horses rode in from behind. The horses went around the players, and another group of players all jumped off of them, eight in total. Their leader had a large, gold-trimmed shield, and a hammer. As he leapt off his horse, he grabbed the demon's attention, and it attacked him next.

This man suddenly appeared to glow with white light, and he even put his shield away to grip his hammer with two hands. The axe came down and made contact with his head, but dealt no damage. He threw his hammer at the demon, and it appeared to explode in bright light, dealing massive damage to his target.

Then, the other players joined in. One woman looking to be in her thirties or even forties wielded a huge claymore, and swung it hard against the monster, dealing a fair amount of damage. Two other players, dressed in white robes held out their hands, and blasted the demon with a flurry of bolts of light. They too dealt significant damage.

After them, two other players charged in. One wielded a massive scythe, and the other a massive hammer. They swung and hit their target, dealing more damage. One of the two was significantly younger than the other. Finally a water sorcerer conjured a stream of water to blast the demon. Another player in their party cast a spell that made the water shine like light, and when it hit the demon, it seemed to melt and die.

"What?" Asuna asked, looking at this new group. Her tone was very serious.

"Who…" Michiko started the sentence.

"The hell," Xaela went on.

"Oh, no… please please don't be—" Eulsam was speaking, but got cut off.


	18. Chapter 18: The Raiders of Argus

"Sammy, my boy!" The tank in the other player party walked towards Eulsam, and wrapped a single arm around his shoulder. "How the hell are ya?" By now, the glow that surrounded the man had vanished.

Eulsam sighed. "Michiko, Kirito, Asuna… everyone. This is my dad."

The man took his arm back away. "Oh, I can feel the love," he said. "Well, since my son is being rude, I'll have to introduce myself. In the game world, I got by Rexem." He called over the rest of his party and started calling them out by name. He started with the woman with the claymore. "This is Azrealda," he said.

Then he pointed out everyone in order, starting with the four spell casters. "These two." He pointed to the ones in the white robes. "Are Sarah and Matt. They're recently married, isn't that sweet?" Their in-game names read as WiseTom and Dramagirl. "This one right here is Stevie, but he goes by Blue." The water sorcerer's in-game name was Frosty. "And this guy doesn't like using his real name, so he goes by his in-game name, Hael." Finally, he pointed to the last two, the scythe and hammer toting players. "The older one we call Papa Bear, and the younger we call Little Bear. Father and son…" Then he stood up and crossed his arms, giving a proud introduction of his group. "We are the Raisers of Argus."

Kirito's group waved, and nodded along for the most part. It was Asuna who broke the silence to introduce their own group. "Asuna," she said, politely. Then she pointed to each member of their party. "Klein, Leafa, Sinon, Michiko, Xaela and Eulsam… well I guess you actually already know him."

"Eulsam," Michiko said. "Your father is a badass!"

Rexem smirked and had a good laugh at that. "Why, thank you my dear. Looks like my boy has found a nice group of friends in this world. That's good to know. What do you call your guild?"

"We're not all in the same guild," Kirito said. "Actually, only three of us are in a guild."

"Xaela and I are in the Veteran Protectors Guild," Eulsam said. "Michiko leads the Black Wardens. We hunt player killers."

"Yet here you are, adventuring into a new zone where there aren't any," Rexem said. "Don't you think you're a little under-leveled for this zone?"

Asuna looked at this new party's levels. She blinked as she realized that this group before her only had one player with a level lower than her own. "How did you guys level so fast?" she asked.

"We cleared an epic raid in the south," Azrealda said. "It took three of our members, but it gave us a huge boost. After that we went on and never stopped. The south was pretty much clear, but an NPC sent us out here to find a quest item."

"Oh, us too!" Asuna said. "Except we kind of all took a break after our raid."

"We're here to find the Book of Kings Past," Kirito said. "Supposedly there's a big apocalypse event headed our way, and the book is going to give us the secrets we need to stop it."

"Then I'm sorry to say that we'll be taking that book ourselves," Azrealda said. "We too need its secrets. And you do not have the power to stop us from taking it instead." With that, Azrealda turned and started to move toward the pyramid structure at the zone's center.

"Wait a minute!" Eulsam said. "What gives you the right to lay claim on a quest item like that?"

"I have a huge sword," Azrealda said. "And if you try to stop me, I'll use it to take off your head."

Rexem moved over to Azrealda and put a hand on her shoulder. "Easy now, Vice Commander. That's my son you're talking to."

"Okay, so we both want the book—" Kirito started to speak, but was interrupted by another member of Rexem's group.

"Perhaps we could work out an arrangement," the sorcerer called Blue said. "We will need more players to clear the dungeon anyways, and there's nothing in the rules that says we can't share the quest rewards when they come. After all—"

"Like I was about to say," Kirito said. "We both want to read the book's contents, not to take it and turn it in. We can both win, here."

"The shrimp is right," Azrealda said. "I apologize for my aggressive behavior. It's simply my nature…"

"You are forgiven, Vice Commander," Rexem said.

"Wait, we're teaming up?" Eulsam asked.

"Yeah, we're teaming up… Sammy." Michiko snickered at him as she walked past. Eulsam didn't seem comfortable with this idea at all, but having nowhere else to turn, he kept on moving along with the group.

Rexem opened his player window, and sent a party merge invitation to Kirito. Kirito accepted it, and suddenly their groups were combined.

* * *

><p>After about an hour of walking, the group arrived at the doors of the large pyramid. "Here it is," Rexem said. "The Ruins of Al'Kuraz. Let's go!" He charged forward, and the seven other players in his guild followed him in. Kirito and the others looked at each other, and shrugged before following.<p>

Inside of the structure, it was dark, and before long, too dark to see. Sarah, one of the mages in white, tapped her staff to the ground, and the end of it lit up brightly, and she lit the way. There were bones on the floor—fallen warriors that still gripped their weapons tightly.

"I wonder what happened here," Rexem asked.

"Nothing happened here," Eulsam said. "It is a game. The events that are described in the game's history never occurred. It started this way."

Rexem looked back at him and rolled his eyes. "Something happened here. Whether or not it was real doesn't matter, because it affects us now." As they kept walking, they started to ignore the bones. But the bones didn't ignore them.

The skulls of the fallen turned towards the players, watching them. They were quiet, and started to get up. Sinon heard this, and stopped. "Wait," she said. She drew and arrow and readied it on her bow. The other players also readied their weapons.

"Sarah was it?" Sinon asked.

Sarah nodded.

"Can you put that light on my arrow?"

Sarah began casting her spell, it was just a couple quick words, and Sinon's arrow lit up like a torch. She fired off back the way they came. As it shot through the halls, the light reflected on hordes of skeletons, all with canine shaped skulls, and eventually it hit one of them in the head, dealing minimal damage.

There was a moment's pause by all the players, and then the mob attacked a loud scream. Rexem was the first ready. He put his shield away as before, and glowed with bright light before charged to the back of the group and attacking the oncoming horde. He bashed the skeletons with his hammer, one by one, and each hit dealt nearly forty percent of a target's health in damage. As he furiously assaulted the mob, they struck him, their swords hitting and dealing no damage as if they were attacking a mountain.

While Rexem attacked, more of the skeletons came from the front, and they were heard pouring from every corridor. The rest of the group fought hard. Asuna assumed her Valkyrie mode, and took the front while Rexem held the rear. She slammed charging enemies with her shield and switched to her sword for greater attack speed. She dealt almost as much damage as Rexem, but she was backed up by Kirito and Eulsam, whose dual swords helped bring down the ones she started.

Sinon held onto her arrows, aiming and waiting in case any of the enemies broke the line. There were far too many to waste arrows on. The group took hits, and Leafa started healing with her arcane magic. As she was casting, she noticed Hael also casting. He was a healer, like her, but his spells were much faster to cast. With both of them casting at the same time, they wasted mana through lack of coordination.

Klein joined the rear, finishing off the weak enemies Rexem left with his lightning swift strikes. Xaela joined the front, earning killing blows to build up her Blood Bath. Azrealda stayed near Rexem, and used her massive sword like a shield, blocking and then countering attacks. Michiko joined her there, and with her weapon, did much the same, though her style was more defensive.

"There's too many of them!" Blue said. The two white magi were in the process of casting a lengthy spell. "Hurry up!"

The father and son pair waited, with weapons ready. They were back up, because the corridors barely had enough room for more of them to fit through and fight. At last, the long spell was finished. Sarah launched a huge blast of light to the rear, which knocked back the horde and dealt some damage. Some of the skeletons were killed. An identical blast went ahead of Asuna and the others.

"Move!" Rexem said. "We can't stop here!"

Azrealda turned and jumped past Asuna. With her weapon she starting swinging wildly, performing whirlwind attacks like Kirito's special ability and finishing off damaged skeletons. Rexem was back to his normal self, and re-equipped his shield. He and Asuna both led the charge, but Rexem was far more reckless.

The rest of the group followed them. Eulsam and Kirito switched to the rear, and took out monsters that had gotten up and charged from behind. The skeletons were much faster than the players, and caught up easily. Soon Michiko and Klein moved to the rear guard.

"Stand back!" Blue shouted. His hands appeared as blue, and surrounded by water. The four defenders rushed ahead, and Blue thrust his hands forward. He conjured a wave of crushing water on the enemies, and forced them back a great deal.

As the group kept up their forward charge, they ran to the end of the passageway, and found themselves at a cliff's edge. "Shit!" Asuna said as she turned to face the halls. Her Valkyrie had already ended. Xaela couldn't keep up killing blows and so lost her Blood Bath.

Rexem took his hammer, and slammed it into the ground. Lightning shot out from the ground and traveled down the hall, severely wounding many of the skeletons. They kept up the charge, and the group together slayed them as they emerged from the hall.

"We're going to have to jump!" Hael said. "Sarah, Matt!"

The two nodded, and started casting their spells. A three-word spell on each player, first their own group. As each of them got the spell on them, they leapt from the cliff, and floated down gracefully. Kirito's group saw this, and got the idea. When the spell started to be cast on them, they followed suit, and Rexem and Asuna, the two tanks, were the last to go down.

When they landed, they found themselves in a large, open space. It was dark like the rest of the dungeon. "Mana… health," Rexem said. "Do it quickly. There are likely many more down here waiting for us."

The casters all drank mana potions, and then healed the party. "You're a little reckless, you know,' Asuna said. "This isn't just a game. Our lives are on the line."

"Yeah," Eulsam said. "That's why I didn't want to party up with you. I knew you'd do it this way, like you always do in RPG's. It's different here!"

"Don't raise your voice at me, boy," Rexem said.

"Sorry, sir," Eulsam said, bowing his head and shutting up.

"So you're a bunch of cowards?" Azrealda said. "You shouldn't have come here. This is no place for spirits to falter."

"Guys," Kirito said. "We don't need to argue. Let's just work together on this. Leafa and Hael. You need to coordinate your healing better so you can conserve mana. Eulsam and I need to focus on different fronts with our abilities. Michiko and Azre…" he had to read her name again. "Michiko and Azrealda both have good defensive capabilities, so you should take different fronts too."

"Don't tell me what to do, shrimp."

"Azrealda," Rexem said. "Stay on me, but Michiko should stay with Asuna. Our groups already work well with each other and we know how the other fights. Eulsam will be on my side. He's been in enough groups with us."

"I will focus on Asuna and her group," Hael said. "I am a higher level, and they are lower so they will take more damage. It will balance out our healing."

Leafa frowned at him. "You may be a higher level, but the way you heal when your party is already at full health is going to put my friends' lives in danger. It's no surprise that you lost three of your own in your raid."

Hael was insulted, and shoved Leafa away. "You think you're better than me because of that? If you've really been in a raid, then you know what it's like. It's not easy!" Leafa tackled him, and Kirito and Rexem had to pull the two apart.

"Guys, guys!" Michiko shouted. "This is no time for fighting! We're in the middle of a dungeon, and we don't even know our way out now. I get that a lot of you can't get along, but we have to work together now."

"My team could use some better strategy," Rexem said. "And the little girl is right. I am indeed reckless. And Hael, don't kid yourself. You're as reckless with your healing as I am with my attacks. But they work well together that way. You know my playing style… that I'm always going to be rushing into combat. So you're casting healing spells pre-emptively."

Hael nodded to him. "So what should we do?"

"Hael," Kirito said. "You are right about being a higher level. You should be healing us. But now that we know what you heal like, we know what to expect from you. We can rush into combat like Rexem does, and that will allow you to work at your best. Leafa," Kirito turned to her. "Don't worry about us. Heal Rexem's group for now. They are stronger and more capable of handling the dangers they face, so you'll be able to keep healing like you normally do."

"And I will use this as a chance to practice some restraint," Rexem said. "I think though that Klein and Xaela should split up. Since Xaela and Eulsam are in the same guild, I will take her. Both of their abilities work best when they achieve killing blows. So everyone else will deal the heavy hits, but leave enemies near death for those two to finish."

"We'll need another melee," Kirito said.

"I trust Rexem with my son more than a stranger," Papa Bear said. "So I will join your front, Asuna." Papa Bear wielded the hammer, and moved over to her. "Plus, my weapon will match Azrealda's in reach, and I will be able to cleave with it."

"The mages of course can all handle themselves," Blue said. "Sinon will stay in the middle with us. Plus, with her perception skills, she will help us to direct our biggest attacks at the most threatening enemies."

Sinon smiled at the compliment.

"We're ready, then," Klein said. "Let's do this!"

"Where are we?" Sinon asked, looking around. "I don't hear any monsters."

Sarah activated another light spell on the tip of one of Sinon's arrows. The light caught her attention, and she nodded, taking the arrow and firing it off into the distance. As the light went off, it gave players a glimpse of the path ahead. "There's nothing here," Sinon said.

Just then, the crackling of flames sounded off. Purple fire as on the demon from earlier lit up the area. Two more demons, large ones like they encountered in the forest. "Asuna, you take the one on the left…" Rexem said as he marched towards the one on the group's right.

Then came the howling and clattering of bones. More skeletons were now jumping down on the group. They couldn't see them until they reached the lighted area around Matt's staff. When they came up on the group, the melee classes all got to work, attacking them.

It was slightly more organized than before, only this time, the two tanks were going to be busy with the larger monsters. Michiko and Azrealda made good secondary tanks for the battle, playing more defensive with their styles and pulling as much of skeletons as they could manage to them.

Eulsam, Xaela and Little Bear backed up Azrealda. Kirito, Klein and Papa Bear stood near Michiko. Eulsam and Kirito stood to the far outside, and used their dual wielding styles to manage multiple enemies at once. The father and son team stayed closer to center. Papa was more to the front, and used his cleaving strikes with the massive hammer to keep the mob from pouring through to the spell casters, who stood center. Little caught the few that managed to get through, along with Sinon and her arrows.

Asuna engaged her demon, and held her shield strong to her opponent. When the first strike came down, it hit hard, and had she not been wielding a legendary shield, it may have broken from the impact. Kirito and her both lost eight percent of their health. Hael was on point though, and the second the health dropped, they were both back up to ninety-eight percent.

"What?" he asked though. "My heal should have been stronger!"

"Oh, forgot to mention that!" Asuna said. "Half of my damage and healing is split with Kirito!"

He nodded. "Would have been useful to know sooner, but no matter…" He turned to Kirito, and shot him with a heal, and then Michiko, just as they were hit.

When the demon attacked Rexem, he blinked in surprise at how hard the axe came down. Previously, his special ability kept him from taking damage or even feeling the impact. "They're strong." He was knocked down by five percent of his health.

After getting knocked, Leafa started healing. The two white mages prepared powerful spells to strike at the demon Rexem fought. The sorcerer was already ready to go. He blasted a stream of water at the same demon, and as he did, Hael cast a spell to bless the water as before.

The first demon was down to seventy percent health. After Asuna was hit, she charged into the beast, as she promised she would. She attacked with her spear, but had to jump to land a hit on the hovering demon. It left her in an indefensible position when she landed, and the demon swiped sideways with its axe. She was knocked off to the side, and let out a grunt. Both Kirito and her now sat at eighty percent health.

"Seriously?" Hael said, losing sight of Asuna as she tumbled into the darkness. He thought quickly, and turned to blast Kirito with the heal he had prepared. They were restored by ten percent each.

As Xaela's Blood Bath stacked up, and become more effective, she dealt more and more damage to the skeletons. Before long, she was able to cover for Eulsam, and Eulsam doubled back to join the fight alongside his father, slashing away at the demon just as more bolts of light hit it.

Klein made Kirito's job easier as well, but his skill didn't stack like Xaela's. As the battle went on, Xaela managed to cover more and more for the melee fighters. Each passing moment, another was able to go back to the front to take on the demons.

Asuna was in the dark, and couldn't even see the incoming attacks save for the sound of the axe ripping through the air. She caught one just in time, and dropped onto her back to dodge the swing. Soon though, Klein and Kirito were able to join her.

Before long, the first demon was down, and Rexem's group was able to move over to Asuna's, and help with her demon. Together, with all of their attacks, they brought the giant down. But the skeletons were still coming. Another loud cry came from a distance, and more of the monsters began to charge from the other direction.

Xaela was now killing them in just two or three hits, but she noticed something. Her Blood Bath was capped, at fifty stacks. "I'm not going to be able to fight them all!" she shouted.

"Don't worry," Matt said, and pointed to Sarah, who was preparing a huge spell by the looks of it. It was finished, and she held her staff up into the air. All around them, the skeletons started to float, and be struck by streams of light. Everything spun around her, and the whole room lit up. The group could see clearly now where they needed to go.

"That way!" Rexem said, pointing towards an opening across the room. Sarah slammed her staff into the ground, and let out a loud shout. A wave of light blasted out, and every enemy in the room was blown back to the walls, many were killed.

After the attack, Sarah was drained completely of mana. "No time to wait," Kirito said. "They'll come back!" He led the charge this time to the opening, and as predicted, by the time they got there, they were again under attack, fending off from the skeletons.

"Paladin mode recharged!" Rexem said.

"Valkyrie ready!"

"Look! Ahead!" Sinon pointed out. "Light me!" Matt cast a light spell on her arrow once more. She fired it down the hall. More of the skeletons were pouring from chambers to the side, but at the end, players could see a large door.

"The boss…" Asuna said. "We'll have a better chance if we rush through these mobs and close the door behind us!"

"I agree," Blue said as he used summoned a stream of water ahead of them, forcing the skeletons back into their rooms. "These skeletons don't like they're stopping!"

As they approached, the hall opened into a huge room. There were destroyed bookshelves, and scraps of leather and paper all around. "The destroyed library," Kirito said. "This has to be it."

They barely made it into the door, and closed it behind them. The group had a moment of rest, but only a short moment before the dungeon's boss reared its rather ugly head.

Its eyes lit up in flames, bright red and orange. It looked to be the size of a small house, and floated in the air. At that moment the walls around the room caught fire as well, and the players were forced inward. Above the bosses head, an information tag appeared. It was called The Burning Skull.

"With our special abilities ready," Rexem said. "This should be quick… after you, Asuna."

Asuna nodded. She activated Valkyrie and charged at the enemy. As she ran, her spear crackled with lightning. The electricity danced across the ground, and struck parts of the room before she threw the spear at the skull. It landed right at the center of its head, and dealt nearly twenty percent of its health in damage.

Rexem was next. He activated his Paladin ability, and put his shield away as he glowed. He swung his hammer around and hurled it at the skull, dealing a little more than twenty percent of its health in damage.

Asuna stood back, and waited for Rexem to retrieve his weapon, and to hold the boss's attention while he was still invulnerable. She attacked with her sword, and all of the rest of the players attacked with her.

It was easy, as predicted. With Rexem's ability, he didn't even take damage before the rest of the group had the skull destroyed. And just like that, the dungeon was cleared. A light began to settle around them, and they could see a book had dropped from where the boss was.

Asuna picked it up, and smiled as she read the book's name through her inventory. "We got it!"

* * *

><p>The group of players decided to go to the Temple of Gaea for the next part of their quest. Since Rexem merely needed the text translated, and Gaea was closer, his group decided that going there would suffice, instead of traveling all the way back to the south.<p>

Gaea used magic to levitate the book in front of her, and once she saw it, she cast a spell on the party. "Now you should be able to read," she said. The book went back into Asuna's hands, and everyone gathered around to see what it might have to say. Gaea had it turned to a page for them.

"This is what we need to fight against the oncoming storm," she said.

"The Fountain of Silver Light," Asuna read. "A mystical place to the far west, high up in the mountains where no one can climb. Here, the holy waters wash over the iron, blessing it with incredible potency. The Silver Steel forged from this ore is said to be able to pierce a dragon's scales."

Asuna recalled Tartarus, and their fight against Hydra. She remembered how when she charged, even with her greatest attacks, they could not hurt it.

"A dragon?" Rexem said, standing back and thinking about this for a moment. "We are to slay a dragon… Kirito."

Kirito looked back at Rexem. "Yes?"

"If you will have us," Rexem said. "I am sure my group would very much enjoy the quests to come. We have never been west before, either. It would make for a good adventure."

Kirito nodded, and smiled. "Well we couldn't possibly fight a dragon alone now, could we?" After he said that, he got a message, and read it while the rest of them talked.

"Oh come on," Eulsam said. "We can take it!"

"Trying to get rid of me, already, Samuel?" Rexem asked. "That's pretty rude…"

Eulsam rolled his eyes and started walking away. "I suppose it's not terrible that we'll be fighting together. But if we're going west, we'll be traveling through Newberg. That's Veteran territory. Don't undermine my authority when we get there."

"Your authority?" Rexem asked. "Right… you're the leader of a great justice guild, and having a father whose out-leveled would be so embarrassing."

"Last time you were there, you tried to take over… remember?"

Rexem laughed. "It's not my fault the players preferred rallying around an experienced MMO champion."

"World of Warcraft is nothing like this, dad. The days of button mashing and repetitive cycling of skills are over. Games involve real skill now that virtual reality has gotten so far."

"Yet here I am, at level ninety-eight, and there you are, at level ninety-one."

"Good news!" Kirito shouted, interrupting the drama. He closed the message before continuing. "We just got another reason to go back to Newberg. Lisbeth and Sampson are getting married."

"What?" Asuna asked. "They started dating like… yesterday." She laughed at that.

"And how long have you and Kirito been together and haven't gotten engaged?" Leafa asked.

"Why do you always have to bring that up?" Kirito asked. He was starting to feel embarrassed by his lack of action in terms of romance.

"I'm just saying… to each their own, you know? You don't want to be rushed, and they wanted to rush. If that's right for them, then we can't judge."

"Don't you even have a kid now, guys?" Klein asked, pointing at Kirito. "Not to be judgmental, but that usually ends up tying knots."

Asuna glanced over at Kirito. She was just waiting on him. But in truth, Kirito had already planned to propose. In the real world, he had purchased a diamond ring. He was literally about to propose when the death game began. The plan was to finish a dungeon with Asuna and his friends, and then propose in-game. When Asuna would wake up, an identical ring in the real world had already been place in her pants pocket after she linked into the game.

"I'm just waiting for the right moment," Kirito said. "And the right moment won't come until we can get out of here!"

"So you do plan to marry me eventually?" Asuna asked. "Oh, good, I was starting to wonder." The rest of Asuna's group laughed. Rexem and his followers were lost on the whole situation, and stayed out of it. It wasn't their business. Even Michiko, Eulsam and Xaela didn't know this group that well.

"Yes," Kirito said after rolling his eyes. He took Asuna's hands and looked into her eyes. "But only when we get out of here… only when we can be sure that the both of us will live through this."

"Don't talk like that," Asuna said, glancing away. "I don't want to think that we won't."

"Okay," Rexem said, interrupting the romance. "So we're heading tom Newberg, and… we'll meet you guys there! Have fun!" At that, Rexem and his group left the temple, and started heading out.

"One more vacation night?" Asuna asked Kirito as the rest of their group started parting ways for the day. Kirito nodded to her, and they two left the courtyard to head back to their suite.


	19. Chapter 19: Love's Labors Lost

"GothGod," Director of Operations, Kojji Makatawa spoke. "His story began before the game did, you could say. He was the first player to be confined, pending trial at the end of the game. Not for his actions within the game, but for the disturbing manner in which he was found."

They were in the observation base, and Kojji and Donald Zimmar were talking directly with Seijiro. "Here is his folder," Zimmar said. Seijiro opened it up and looked. There was gruesome images of a crime scene, including a bloody knife and a dead body.

"Ever since we found him," Zimmar said. "Jacob Makavich has been the primary suspect in the murder of his mother. He was already in the game when we found him, so we never got anywhere with the case, though there is sufficient evidence, the DA thinks, to charge him with the crime."

"Who reported it?" Seijiro said.

"His little sister, who hid in the cabinet during the incident. She's afraid to talk, so we still can't say anything for certain. From what we know about him within the game, they think he's their guy."

"What took so long?" Seijiro asked.

"Tracking down one username in a sea of over eighty thousand players isn't easy, agent. And it took a few warrants before local P.D. surrendered this information to us."

"Why even bother giving it to me now?" Seijiro asked.

"I don't want to force this decision on you, Seijiro, I've always trusted your judgment," Kojji said. "But we think it may be worth the risk to send a message into the game for Kirito and his friends. They're hunting him down and they need to know what they're up against. So do you… What are they up to at the moment?"

"Apparently," Seijiro said. "They're getting ready to slay a dragon. If we're going to risk sending a message, we should send it to one of our agents on the inside."

"And risk them dying?" Zimmar asked.

"Unlike Kirito… they signed up for this job."

* * *

><p>"A dragon?" Sampson asked. "That does sound like fun." The group all sat in a dining lounge. They took up a good portion of the player-made restaurant.<p>

"Yes," Rexem said. "Fun levels are expected to be extremely high."

"We need to get to a place called the Fountain of Silver Lights," Asuna said. "According to the text, its waters are blessed, and any iron ore they touch is enchanted with special properties. Once forged into a metal called Silver Steel, it will be able to pierce dragon scales."

"The only problem," Klein said. "Is that it's in a place called Terrorfall Heights, and on a mesa that cannot be reached by foot."

"Neither can we teleport up the mountains," Leafa said.

"We're going to need to fly, in other words," Kirito said.

"I haven't seen flying for players since Alfheim Online," Lisbeth said. "How are you going to do it?"

"No idea," said Kirito. He shrugged and took a drink from his glass.

Silica spoke up next, but changed the topic. "I'll help you, but I want to wait till after the wedding! I don't want to miss out on that."

"Sampson and I would help, but… well we do have that wedding to plan, and a honeymoon. We'll be out of the game a few weeks, in other words. But if you shoot me a message once you get the ores, I'll be happy to forge you some new weapons."

"I've been looking forward to the wedding now, too," Agil said. "So you'll have to go on without me. Even after that, I started up a shop in town, and I want to stay here and help out the lower level players as much as I can."

"Don't get me wrong," Asuna said. "I do want to join you on your wedding day, Lisbeth, but… I think we just have more pressing matters to attend to."

After some discussion amongst Rexem and his group, Azrealda spoke up, interrupting the conversation. "It's decided then," she said. She took a bite of an apple, the last bite before it vanished into thin air. "The Raiders will figure out this whole flying thing, so we can get to the fountain. The rest of you stay here and enjoy yourselves."

Kirito and the rest of them didn't want to leave the hard work to their new allies, but no one spoke. They did feel within them an urge to participate in the wedding. It was their friend, after all.

"I'll go with you," Eulsam said. "I'm not quite so attached to this group, and I could do with some catching up with you…" He looked at his father. Rexem nodded in response.

"That's reasonable," Michiko said. "But I hope we're not all forgetting another pressing issue on our hands: Death Oath." The reminder made everyone forget about the happiness and the excitement of romance and adventure for a moment. "We cannot ignore them. Since we know now how they manipulate peoples' memories, they could be a bigger threat than we ever imagined. And they seem to have dropped off the face of Vearth."

Everyone was silent for another moment. "It could mean anything," Eulsam said. "We've been putting pressure on them every way we can. They might have just gone into hiding."

"That's what scares me," Michiko said. "If they were scared, we'd see them scrambling and running somewhere. If they were helpless, they would be fighting us at every chance. But if we're such a great threat to them, and we know where their base of operations is, where did they go? It's like they're ignoring us… I feel something bad is coming. I just don't know what."

"If you feel the need to return to the hunt for GothGod and the Death Oath," Kirito said. "Do it. But we're staying here for now, it seems. I can't imagine Death Oath could possibly pose as serious a threat as a dragon attacking."

Michiko stood up, and nodded her head. "I will message you if I see anything happen."

"Commander General, sir," Xaela said.

"Yes?"

"Permission to aid Michiko and the Black Wardens?"

"Go…"

Xaela got up, and the two of them left the room. Eulsam bid the group a farewell, and left with Rexem and the Raiders.

"Alright," Lisbeth said. "Now that the serious discussion is over. Let's get back to the more pressing matter at hand. Asuna… I didn't know if you would make it, but now that you're here, and sticking around… would you make me a wedding dress?" Lisbeth held Asuna's hands and looked up at her with pleading, hopeful eyes.

Asuna blinked and giggled. She nodded at last. "Of course," she said. "I would be honored to be responsible for your wedding attire, as a superior tailor and all."

"She can cook, too!" Klein said.

"Oh, and I of course wouldn't mind a little catering, either, Lisbeth."

"Really?" Lisbeth was now even more excited.

"I guess I'm just going to be the host of this little ceremony, then," she said. "Oh, we'll need ingredients, and a cake. Kirito will help me shop for everything!"

"I will?" Kirito asked. He then nodded. "Oh, yeah! Definitely."

"Good," Asuna said. "Lisbeth, we'll meet tomorrow before lunch and you can help me design it. We can also discuss eating arrangements then…" She yawned, stretching her arms out and getting up from the table. "But for tonight, I think it's time to go to bed. We've been traveling nonstop since we got our quest."

Kirito nodded. The group disbanded shortly afterwards to turn in for the night.

* * *

><p>As Michiko and Xaela left and headed towards the edge of town, the Black Warden turned to talk to the woman. "I'm glad you could come with me," Michiko said.<p>

"Why's that?" In the city, the two of them wore more casual attire. Michiko wore a knee-length skirt of silk, and a black tank top. Xaela wore a cotton skirt that fell to her ankles, and a blue, long-sleeved shirt. Aside from her hair and her combat skills, Xaela was fairly conservative in nature.

"I wanted to talk to you…" Michiko said. She looked around to make sure the path was empty, and still she was quiet. "I want to talk about our time together in the old Red-Handed base…"

Xaela stopped. Her eyes looked down and her face turned pale. She shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it… I want to forget about it."

"I can't forget it," Michiko said. "I endured rape… torture… some of it at your own hands. You owe me at least a moment to talk."

"I don't owe you anything," Xaela said, and kept walking. "And I don't want to talk…"

"I left you alone for a long time," Michiko said. "I haven't brought it up since then. And you do owe me." Michiko looked very serious at the woman. "You came into that room and stabbed me. You nearly killed me. That was your initiation."

Xaela stopped, and glared at Michiko. "I said I'm sorry for that!" she shouted now. "I've more than made up for it by now. We've fought alongside one another on many occasions since then. Why are you bringing this up now?"

Michiko stopped too, and looked back at her. "But your initiation never ended," Michiko said. "I saw you in The Underworld, in the fight against the Judges."

"What about it?" Xaela asked.

"I expected you might face your late boyfriend there. Then I expected you might face me," Michiko said. "But it was neither. And it wasn't yourself. Who was he? I know he was too old to be the one you spoke of."

Xaela sat down on a nearby bench, and stopped talking. She began to cry.

"You didn't kill me," Michiko said. "Did you kill someone else? I'm sure they expected you to."

Xaela shook her head, and cursed at Michiko. It was an unfamiliar language though. "You don't have the right to ask me those questions. If I answered you, wouldn't you be my enemy again? If you knew I killed any innocent person?"

"What's your native tongue?" Michiko asked. "That word you said at the start… sounded—"

"French," Xaela said. "I never told you about my real life. I was born in Paris, and never left it."

"You're French, then. Okay," Michiko said. "I've never told you either. I was born in Japan, and I still live there."

"What are you doing?"

"Talking," Michiko said. "We were both real people before this happened. We both still are. We can be friends after this."

Xaela shook her head. "I don't want to remember any of it. I took up my sword and fought to get back at the monsters who turned me into a killer. When this is over. I don't want to be a murderer."

Michiko sat down next to her. "I read a lot about the SAO survivors, even though I wasn't one myself. Many of them who had been forced to kill were left scarred for life. They too wanted the bad memories to go away. But it doesn't work that way. Those who survived, and lived with themselves afterwards had friends to lean on. They had support."

"I don't need friends from this world. It's cruel… it's evil."

"You didn't feel that way before," Michiko said. "I remember when I rescued the group in the Temple of Fire. Afterwards we talked. We shared a few moments that I don't want to forget."

"That wasn't me," she said. "I was scared. I was still figuring it all out."

"You still are," Michiko said. "I know you are, because so am I. When we fought the judges, I wondered why it wasn't you that I faced. When I was still in Katsuo's possession, I hated you. I thought to myself, I bonded with this woman in the worst of cases, and she turned on me… she became a murderer, and I was duty-bound to kill her. But when I got the chance…"

"You couldn't do it," Xaela said. "Why not? I wanted to die… I still wish I had." Xaela looked up at Michiko. Her face was wet with tears.

"It took me a long time to figure it out, too," Michiko said. "I didn't figure it out until I vanished. I killed that man who I thought had killed my sister. But I was wrong. It killed me inside too, because I had no further reason to believe he was a player killer. He reminded me of you, in a way, because he wasn't what I expected. So I ran… It took me a few weeks to get myself together. I realized something though... the reason I couldn't kill you… why I didn't want to."

"Why?"

"Because it was wrong. My head had been so wrapped up in vengeance, that I lost sight of the real reasons I became a headhunter… why I started the Black Wardens. Vengeance became my weapon. I realized that what I wanted against you was not justice. I wanted revenge. But you don't deserve to die."

"It's true," Xaela said. Michiko stopped. Xaela narrowed her gaze, and spoke sincerely to Michiko. "I killed innocent people, and I did so with no regret, and not sorrow. I feel guilt, and I feel sorry for my own pain, but no remorse for those I stole from this world. Can you look me in the eye and tell me now, that I don't deserve death?"

Michiko took Xaela's hands, and did just that. "You don't deserve to die," she said as she shook her head. "I can say this with absolute certainty."

"How can you, though?"

"Because you said sorry. Because when we saw each other again in the Temple of Fire we embraced one another. Because despite the evil you experienced, and the evil acts you committed, you still have as much humanity as I. It's love… You still have love."

Xaela shook, and pulled her hands away as she stared at the woman sitting next to her.

"I know you felt it then. I don't know if you feel it anymore, but I do. What we went through, it wasn't something I would do with another girl… not before. But since it happened… and after all we've been through. Xaela," Michiko said. "I can't believe you deserve to die because I've fallen in love with you."

The gladiator stood up from the bench, and wiped her eyes. Afterwards, and without saying a word, she left Michiko there, and walked back the other way. Michiko was about to say something else, but decided not to, and stayed there on the bench until she say Xaela round a corner. Then, she got up. She equipped her gear, mounted a horse, and left.

After she watched Michiko leave from around the corner of a building, Xaela opened up her message window. She opened an old message from Pegasus, it was signed by a name unknown and it read…

"Xaela,

We were not told what happened when we were denied access to view the footage of your imprisonment. We were afraid of what it might contain, and decided not to press the issue any farther. But your father, as you know, is concerned with holiness. We have seen the way you acted around that other woman. It is unbecoming of a Christian, and we hope you are fully aware of the wrath of God against those who defile his law, under any circumstances. He does not forgive such obscene acts, of which it is obvious you have participated. We are sad to say that we will not be at your side when you wake up. May God have mercy on your immortal soul."

* * *

><p>The next day, Asuna met with Lisbeth in a private room, where she had laid out all sorts of fabrics to show her friend. When Lisbeth arrived, Kirito left with a list of food items Asuna had him hunt down. Lisbeth stripped down to her underwear, and sat on the bed.<p>

"So," the excited, soon-to-be-married girl said. "I was thinking something long, and elegant, but not too long because I don't want to trip on it. It needs to be white, like a wedding dress should be, but I don't want something too traditional, so maybe throw in another color in there somewhere. Do you have any bright reds?"

Asuna nodded along as Lisbeth spoke, and started looking through what she had laid out. She took some white material and held it up in front of Lisbeth, and then some red. "Why red?" she asked.

"It's the color of love," Lisbeth said. "Duh! Or maybe pink would be more fitting? I don't know what do you think?"

"I think red would work just fine. I could make the waist red, or maybe I could do like… half of the chest, and make it spiral down one arm."

"That sounds cool," she said. "Oh, and don't make it poofy. I hate the poofy look wedding dresses have. Make it show off my body a little, you know?"

Asuna giggled at her and nodded. "If that's what you want, sure. It'll save me materials, that's for sure. Just remember though." Asuna sat next to Lisbeth. "The point of marriage is that you're reserving yourself… both you and your partner… and it's not just certain things, it's everything. You want to belong to each other and no one else for the rest of your life."

"Oh, believe me," Lisbeth said. "I know that. I won't need anyone else, I'll have Sampson. And he'll have me, and when we wake up in the real world, we'll have lots of beautiful children and—"

"Lisbeth, I don't need that many details," Asuna stopped her. "You're going to get married in the real world, too?"

"Yeah! That's the point!"

Asuna blinked at her.

"Oh! I forgot to mention last night…" Lisbeth opened her player menu, and shared a message from Pegasus. Asuna read it, and her eyes went wide.

"They agreed to that?" she asked.

"Don't sound so surprised. After what happened with you and Kirito… after SAO, they wanted it to be possible in this world, just in case… So of course I took advantage of it. So yeah. When Sampson and I exchange vows a few days from now, it'll be real. A digital printer in the real world will copy our signatures on the papers, and we'll be husband in wife in two worlds! I bet you wish you had that in SAO."

Asuna smiled, and nodded. "It was a sorely needed feature… But we were too young back then, remember?"

"That's another thing I don't get," Lisbeth said as Asuna started working on the dress. "You and Kirito have been together forever. He hasn't even proposed and it's like he's just pushing the issue to the side. You two are… getting along, right?"

Asuna nodded slowly. "Yeah… why does everyone think there's something wrong with it?"

"Well you have a kid," Lisbeth said. "If that doesn't get him to make up his mind… what will?"

"Maybe I should propose to him, then?" Asuna joked.

"Maybe you should…" Lisbeth said. "It's not really my place, I know, but… if he's not going to do it, someone has to. It could be something simple though. Maybe it's your family?"

Asuna blinked. "My family?"

"Rich girl marrying the middle-class boy. I've met your mom before. I know how she is. All I'm saying is that your class might be a little intimidating to him."

Asuna shook her head, stopping her work for a moment. "I didn't think of that… And it does seem like we're so much older now, but don't forget, it's only been about five years. He's only nineteen."

"Asuna," Lisbeth said. "Hear me now… get him while he's young. He'll never think to look elsewhere."

Asuna blinked at that statement. "Lisbeth. He wouldn't… He wouldn't dare, would he?" Asuna handed the newly made dress to Lisbeth.

"Like you said. He's nineteen. Girls mature faster you know… mentally… psychologically… sexually. For a boy being nineteen years old… he's at the start of his prime, Asuna! And you're nearing the end of yours." Lisbeth equipped her dress, and looked at it in a mirror. "This is nice."

The dress was made of silken cloth, almost entirely white. It clung to her body, but not too tightly, so that it hanged off of her shoulders and hips without bunching up and extending very far. There were no frills, and the end of the dress stretched back only about three feet from her feet. On her head was a white floral wreath, with no veil. The color started at the waste, and went up over her right shoulder before spiraling down the length of her arm. The right side was a full sleeve, while the left ended just past the shoulder. The color of the red was bright, but at its edges, it faded from red to white, covering several shades of pink.

"I like the way the color blends," Lisbeth said. "This will be perfect. Now I'll need to make some mail to go with it."

"Mail… in a wedding dress?" Asuna said. It was only a simple statement to break her thoughts, and keep her from thinking too deeply on the subject of her own love life.

"Yeah, why not? After the wedding I'll wear it into combat!"

"You're crazy…" As Lisbeth moved around, feeling out her new dress, Asuna looked down, thinking hard about Kirito. As her thoughts began to wander, Lisbeth started talking, and she didn't hear her speaking until she snapped her fingers in front of her face to get her attention. "Oh… sorry, what?"

"Do you always daze of like that, Asuna?" Lisbeth asked. "Everything okay?"

She shook her head, and smiled. "It's nothing… You can wear mail if you want to. It's your wedding. But it may be a little awkward to move in if you start dancing."

"Well I'll take it off, then, silly!" Lisbeth said. She put the dress back into inventory, and changed back into her clothes. "Thanks, Asuna…"

Asuna nodded. "You're welcome."

* * *

><p>Six days later, a small crowd of players had gathered together in a space just outside of town. The weather was nice, and the sun was starting to set. They had it all set up, with chairs and an arch standing close to large oak tree. As the sun was going down, it traveled towards the arch.<p>

Lisbeth and Sampson stood beneath it. Towards the altar, another man stood, wearing priestly garb, as a justice of the peace would wear in the real world and not some battle-ready outfit for the priests of the game world.

Despite Lisbeth's fanciful outfit, which did not ultimately include mail, Sampson wore a simple suit. His muscular physique didn't show through it, and it had a way of normalizing the whole scene. The two of them held hands, and looked at each other as the priest behind them spoke. And it was no simple player, either. They had found a player who had actually served this role in the real world before being trapped in the game. Everything about this wedding was real except for the locale.

Asuna sat next to Kirito in the front row. The two held hands, and Asuna smiled, but had to wonder about their relationship. They did have a child, it was true, but neither of them had ever seen it. This game had now gone on months longer than Sword Art Online, and everyone was getting more and more accustomed to it. It was easy to forget they had a child at all. Especially with the amount of fighting and adventuring they did together… especially after all that had happened.

"Do you, Lisbeth, take Sampson to be your husband; to live together with him in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto him as long as you both shall live?"

A steady wind blew across the crowd. It was a nice breeze in an otherwise warm summer atmosphere. In the distance, Xaela watched the wedding from the top of a building. She leaned against the stone edge, and sighed.

"I do," Lisbeth said.

Far away, the beat of hooves pounded against the earth, and a rider in a black hood rode towards Newberg. On their back was a weapon of unique design. The custom three-bladed weapon wielded by only one in all of Vearth.

"Do you, Sampson, take Lisbeth to be your wife; to live together with her in the covenant of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto her as long as you both shall live?"

Leafa sat next to her cousin, Kirito. She looked over at him, and then at Asuna. She was anxious for their wedding, should it ever come. She reached into her pocket and felt something. She had expected to find a ring there, a ring entrusted to her alone by Eulsam. She would return it to Kirito soon… but she wanted to know why he kept waiting first. Instead, she found a sheet of paper. Upon touching it, her mind went blank, and she stared forward at nothing. Though… she whispered very quietly.

Sinon turned an ear to listen to Leafa. It was strange what she heard. So strange she couldn't believe it, so she listened intently to try and make sure.

"I do…" Sampson said

"Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?"

Then, a man stood up in the back. He went completely unnoticed as he did, and wore a black cloak, and a plague mask. In his right hand, a simple wooden staff, which he tapped to the ground just once. "That's my cue…" he said.

Everyone now saw him, and all turned. Immediately, everyone armed themselves. All except for Leafa who sat still, muttering. "Leafa, if you would please," the voice of the man spoke.

Kirito turned to Leafa but was too late. She held out her hand and suddenly everyone's bodies were stiff… all except for the man from Death Oath. He walked up the aisle, toward the altar. "Well, this I'm sure came as quite a surprise to you all." The man removed his hood and his mask. His true identity revealed: GothGod.

"I've been waiting quite some time for such a stroke of luck as this. And when I heard that some of my favorite players were getting married… Oh! I couldn't wait!" He moved up to the frozen Lisbeth, and grabbed her arm, placing a band around it.

He checked the in-game clock, and continued on. "Allow me to explain," he said. "As many of you know, I am the Black Prophet, Herald of the Death Oath. Our goals are simple, but they require a lot of things to happen. In order to accomplish our objectives, we've had to do… terrible things. I don't regret it. How shall I put this… we've got something big in store for you all. But it's based on an exchange program, and we need… one… virgin bride…" He held up his hand, and his index finger, indicating one, and then pointed to Lisbeth.

Everyone could her, and could move the muscles in their faces, but could not talk or move. Lisbeth was angry, and terrified. Everyone was concerned. The man moved over to Kirito. "Oh, how I would have loved to take Asuna for this instead. But your wedding day never seems to come, and… sources indicate a great lack of virginity in this one." He pointed to Asuna. "I suppose killing her, and you… and all of you, will simply have to wait."

He saw Xaela running for the ceremony. "Oh… guards always ruin things. Unfortunately my speech will have to be cut short. I just want you to remember… you, Asuna especially. You could have stopped this from happening. Everything that's coming, and I'm not talking about Lisbeth, here… you brought this upon yourselves when you decided who the bad guys were. I will see you all again someday soon… or you will die before I get the chance. Either way. Good bye." He tapped his stick to the ground, and both he and Lisbeth vanished in a cloud of smoke. It was sudden, and simply exploded around them and contracted quickly. Just like that, they were gone.

Everyone could suddenly move again, and there was a moment of confusion. Then, Sampson let out an angry cry. He turned and punched the wedding arch, breaking right through it. Afterwards, he fell to his hands and knees, not knowing what to do.

"Kirito," Leafa said. "There's… something in my pocket."

"Use your inventory," Asuna said.

Leafa nodded, and pulled up her list of items. She found a sheet of paper. On it was Lisbeth's name, and she cupped her hands to her mouth. Asuna looked at it, and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay. There's nothing you could have done."

"I swear I've seen him before," Kirito said.

"When you lost your memories, Kirito?" Klein asked.

"No… somewhere else…" He opened his menu, and started sending messages out to others. "We need to get everyone together and act quickly… that was a short range teleportation spell, they couldn't be more than a half hour away."

"They could be anywhere though," Leafa said. "We don't know which direction to look in. And they could have had a longer range teleport waiting for them."

"Rexem says his white mages can trace the teleportation."

Xaela stood at the back of the crowd. She shook her head, and approached the front. "I'm sorry," she said. "I saw it all happen and ran in as fast as I could, but I was too late…"

Klein and Agil went to Sampson's side to help him, but he stayed put, without a clue of what he should do.

* * *

><p>"So, once we get a trace, we need to ride out as hard and as fast as we can to where they went," Kirito said.<p>

Rexem sat back, and took in all of the information. The group had all convened at the diner they did before. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Kirito," he said. "Sampson… But, based on everything I heard, we can't do that."

"What?!" Sampson asked. He flipped the whole table over onto Rexem. Everyone in Rexem's party dove out of the way, and all but the leader himself drew weapons. They didn't want to fight, but even to them, Sampson's physical size and strength was intimidating.

Rexem stood up, and looked at Sampson. "I know you're hurt. And I know it seems like the right thing to do. But we need to take more into consideration than Death Oath's plan."

"How do you mean?" Michiko said. "It's simple. They're bad. They're here. They're dead." She was back to her old self in that moment. She was out for blood.

"You said that GothGod spoke an omen upon us all," Rexem said. "Take into consideration all that we know. An Oracle predicted a great destructive force arriving. Our quest is bringing us into metal that when forged, will be able to cut through a dragon's scales. Death Oath steals a, and I quote 'virgin bride,' in the middle of talking about making exchanges. These aren't isolated incidents. I agree, we need to rescue Lisbeth as soon as possible."

"But?" Asuna asked.

"Do you know anything of dragon lore? They tend to enjoy virgins as snacks, but a virgin bride specifically… that's got to be something special," Rexem said. "If we go after Death Oath now, we will fail. So… we're not rescuing anybody until there is Silver Steel in our hands."


	20. Chapter 20: Weapons of Legend

The east and the south of the Ring Forest, the low-level area around the Kingdom of Newberg, was always considered the two lower level directions. The easiest zones were southeast, and included places such as Pinewood, where Fir'Spruce was located, and the Black Bog. As players went around the ring forest from there, zones got harder and harder. North of Pinewood was the Dune Sea. North of that was Darkwood. South of the Black Bog was an oceanic zone, where islands made up the zone of Serenity Isles.

Northeast of Darkwood was the Ruins of Al'Kur, but all around those were the Northern Mountains. To the west of the Northern Mountains was the Slanted Forest. The entire zone was a single, huge slope, where the trees grew at extreme angles, making it both a confusing zone to navigate, as well as a difficult zone to maneuver in.

To the west, and moving southwest of that were the Flying Mountains, the highest level zone directly adjacent to the Ring Forest. They did their name justice. The zone was named by the massive overhangs and extreme cliff faces. But on top of that, the tops of these mountains that went high above the clouds seemed to defy gravity and physics. Huge sections of mountains hanged off of cliffs, supported by nothing by air. Water flowed down the sides of these overhangs, and the waterfalls fell so high that a great mist covered most of the zone, concealing much of the beauty unless one were to reach one of the higher cliffs.

The Flying Mountains were also home to some of the most difficult creatures to hunt. The monsters and critters that populated this zone consisted of flying animals of all sizes. The most notable of these were the pegasi. Since their discovery a few months into the game, players have often talked about the possibility of wrangling, taming and mounting these flying horses, and using them to traverse otherwise impossible landscapes around Vearth. In order to wrangle, much less tame and mount and beast, however, a player must have a sufficient level as well as a sufficient skill. Pegasi averaged level eighty, despite being docile, non-combatant creatures who would run rather than fight.

Silica led the party into this extreme zone. Her high level was thanks only to the Tartarus bump, and she sat comfortably at level eighty-four ever since. Despite not leveling herself, she spent a lot of time in low-level zones in and around Newberg, leveling beast-related skills—skills like wrangling, tracking and taming. If anyone could capture and break a pegasus to be used as a mount, it was her.

The real challenge though, would be finding them. Pegasi, as a flying creature, leaves no tracks. Most players who encountered them did so merely by chance. The young lady wore chameleon armor, which was a high level mail enchanted with magic to blend in with the wearer's environment. When they traveled through the mists, it appeared hazy and white. When they climbed up the mounted, it turned to greens and grays. Standing at the top of an overhang and looking over the zone, it was green around her feet, but sky blue from the knees up.

To Silica's side was a sizable blue lizard, named Pina. It wasn't the same as her old pet from Alfheim, and previously from Sword Art Online, but it was her companion nonetheless. It also lacked the wings that the old Pina had. She looked out across the zone, trying to find any sign of the group's prey.

"See any of them?" Klein asked. The group seemed worn out from the climb.

Silica shook her head. "No," she said. "That's okay, I see another mountain we can get to. We'll be able to see more from there." She pointed at another mountain in the distance, and the group let out a collective groan.

The overhang they stood on was bright green, with thick, short grass. A little ways away was what was like a small pond, but it never ran out of water as it poured off the edge and into the mists below. The entire zone was brightly colored. The flowers that bloomed in the grass, and even more-so around the waters, were bright pinks, yellows and purples in color. The trees that were scattered about had leaves of bright green, and bore fruits that resembled apples, but had a sort of glow to them, as if glistening like they were coated in something sweet.

Suddenly, Kirito looked off towards the water, and seemed surprised by what he saw. He dared not move quickly though, but slowly pointed towards it. The rest of the group looked to the waters, and there was one of the creatures the sought.

The pegasi came in a variety of colors, the same as horses. Most of them were white throughout, but some were brown, black, tan or golden blonde. This particular specimen was a beige color, and had a mane and wings that were silvery white. It folded in its magnificent wings, which at full span were nearly twice the length of its body, and tucked them into its side before dipping its head down to take a drink from the water.

Silica turned, and just watched it for now. She even sat down, and took out some food to munch on as she observed the creature's habits and mannerisms.

"Silica," Eulsam asked. "What are you doing? Aren't you going to try and rope it?"

She shook her head. "Many players have had stories of the legendary horses with wings. No one has roped one yet, so trying now would be a waste of a good chance to learn."

Kirito was the next to sit down. He expected this could take some time, and trusted Silica's expertise in this matter. The rest of his group trusted him, but Asuna was the last to take a seat. Rexem's group didn't seem interested in waiting. With Rex as their tank, they were used to a very fast paced game, always charging from one fight to the next without any hesitation. They weren't good at waiting.

"How long are we going to… watch?" Azrealda asked. Of all of them, she was the least patient. She stood there, with her claymore's blade buried halfway into the dirt, using it to lean on.

"As long as it takes," Silica said, finishing an apple.

"But what are we waiting for?" Azrealda asked.

"Just wait…" Silica said, glancing over at Azrealda. Her first impression of this other group wasn't good, either. She didn't like how they were more interested in having fun than surviving. It was reckless and wild, and she had a feeling that many who played with them might have died because of it. It was a feeling shared by many in Kirito's group, and even by Eulsam, Rex's own son.

After a few minutes, another two pegasi flew down. They drank from the water, and then one of them moved up to a nearby tree, plucking out one of those special apples, and eating it. Silica got up, and everyone watched her.

She activated a stealth ability, and become nearly completely invisible, though those partied with her could see a translucent silhouette where she moved. Once she was close to the tree, she plucked two of its fruits, and returned back to sit where she was earlier.

Once she sat down, she bit into the fruit, and her eyes went wide. She couldn't help herself from devouring the whole apple, which was larger than a normal apple. She almost started on the second, but instead used a knife to cut it into slivers.

"Is it good?" Klein asked.

Silica nodded. "I think they like these a lot," she said. "Or at least I do, they're pretty tasty." She got up, and again approached the horses. This time, she didn't activate her stealth, and held out one of the slivers of the fruit to the pegasus farthest away from the tree. She got its attention, and used the pieces of fruit to lure the creature farther away from the water.

After she gave the remainder of the fruit away, she pulled out a rope, and tied it into a loop. Carefully, she slipped the rope around the beast's head and neck. She had to move fast then. She pulled it tight and use it to hoist herself up onto the animal's back, and gripped tight to it once she was up. The pegasus bucked wild, and neighed in distress. The other two horses both fled, and Silica held on.

She let out a whoop, and was nearly flung off of the horse for a moment. When the wild bucking failed, the pegasus changed tactics. It ran for the edge of the cliff. The whole group panicked, and Silica did too for a moment as it dove off. A few moments later, the flying horse shot up from the mists, and Silica yelled out in excitement as it bolted around the sky. "This is so awesome!" she shouted as it flew. About thirty seconds passed, and then Silica seemed to be in control of the new mount, and she brought it back to the overhang, and landed it.

A notification popped up on her vitals, and she opened her player menu to look at it. "Oooh, an achievement," she said. She read it, and smiled, before reading it out loud. "Game First! Pegasus Mount!"

Kirito's group all got up and went over to her. They all wanted to see it up close now, and when they got closer they congratulated Silica while they pet the animal's nose, and felt its wings. "Great," Azrealda said. "I call next… tell me what to do."

Silica looked at her and smiled. The unfamiliar player was pretty brave in her mind. Silica couldn't imagine this woman, with her impatience, being able to even approach one of these things, much less ride it.

* * *

><p>They sat and waited on a different overhang. Soon enough, some pegasi came to visit them, enjoying a snack from two apple trees. They plucked both trees clean of their fruits in preparation, so when the pegasi came, they would be more open to approaching players that held them.<p>

One of the animals approached Azrealda as she held out the fruit. Once it started eating, Azrealda hopped onto its back without a rope, and gripped onto its mane. "Wait, no!" Silica said. "Use a rope! It could fling you off!"

It was too late, and Azrealda didn't care, she wanted to prove herself. As it bucked, she wrapped both arms around its neck and held on tightly. Then it charged for the edge, and dove off of the cliff. Azrealda screamed, suddenly feeling scared for her life. When it went down, it dove below the mists, and vanished.

Hael stood at the edge, looking for her. Then, she slowly rose from the mist, the pegasus approaching the landing. Despite her success, Azrealda was terrified from the endeavor. She held onto the horse tightly, and even when it landed she was in shock and couldn't let go.

"What's wrong, Az?" Rexem said as his own pegasus landed on the platform. "You develop a sudden fear of heights?"

She shook her head and hopped off of the horse. "I just never went off a cliff without a levitate spell on me, before. I wonder if that's what skydiving is like."

Pretty soon, everyone that had come had a pegasus mount, and they all gathered around. "These things are fast," Eulsam said. "It should cut travel time down a ton. We'll also be able to get to farther places than ever before."

"That may be true," Asuna said. Her horse was solid white, all the way through. "But don't forget that mounts have energy and health like we do. I'd hate to see what happens if we ride them too hard and they pass out mid-flight."

"With a horse," Kirito said. "It just meant we'd be out of a mount for a little while, until we found a new one." His pegasus was solid black all the way through. "We'll go farther, faster, but we should be careful and use a margin of safety when flying them, and land them to rest well before that happens."

Klein's horse was mostly brown, but its mane and tail were brighter, almost red in tint. "And it won't be easy to get a new pegasus, unlike horses, which are everywhere."

Rexem started flying off, heading southward. The rest of his group followed him. "There he goes…" Eulsam let out a sigh, and shook his head. "Always heading off to the next thing. No plan, no rest… just him and his guild against the world…"

"You might be a little hard on your dad," Michiko said. "Didn't you already deal with this sort of thing back when we fought the Judges?" Her horse had black mane, tail and wings, and a gray coat. Eulsam's was white, like Asuna's.

"Besides," Kirito said as he started to hover above the ground. "He's on the right track. We don't know how much time we have. The sooner we get new weapons, the better."

"I guess actually seeing him again stirred up old troubles," Eulsam said.

"I've been there before," Asuna said to him as Kirito and the others flew off. "Having a parent who you can't ever agree with. My mom has caused loads of trouble for me in the past, but when I think about it… I have to admit that she's only doing her best to try and help me, even if she doesn't understand or care what it is that I want."

Eulsam nodded. "To be honest, it's exactly the opposite. He's in his own world. He helps me as little as possible, and expects me to be able to figure everything out on my own, but then he gets cold and distant if I decide to do something he doesn't agree with."

"Like what?"

"Like when the player killers started attacking, I formed the VPG. He disagreed, and told me that I should just come with him and his guild, and that we would just stay ahead of the game and never have to worry about it. He doesn't care about other people all that much, and I do. He thinks I'm wasting my energy, and he looks down on me because of it."

Asuna smiled at him. Her pegasus hovered above the ground and started to move. "Kirito wanted to help people by getting ahead of the curve, so you could say he's sort of a mix between the two of you. In the end though, it was you who was able to fortify a kingdom, and create an army to fight for the players against the murderers in this world. Don't let your dad get you down over that. You did good by yourself." After that, Asuna flew off, and Eulsam went after her.

* * *

><p>South of the Flying Mountains was Terrorfall Heights. This zone was a series of huge rock spires, atop of which sat mesas where sometimes monsters and sometimes treasures awaited players who managed to scale the cliffs. It had claimed the lives of many though, who had fallen to their deaths trying to reach the tops. At the center was the largest mesa, and the greatest treasure in the zone: The Fountain of Silver Lights.<p>

It was like a geyser shooting up from the center, filling a small, shallow pond, which led to streams that dripped down the sides of the cliffs. The ground was a mixture of rocky terrain and blue-green grass, and the water had a bit of sparkle to it. When they landed, they dismissed their mounts, absorbing them into their inventories, and looked about the land.

"The Fountain of Silver Lights," Asuna said. She looked at the ground, and around at the rocks. "Any iron ore we find on this mesa will be forged into Silver Steel."

"Anyone have a high mining skill?" Kirito asked.

Papa Bear and Little Bear, the father and son duo in Rexem's group, equipped pickaxes, and started to swing away at some of the rocks. Agil joined them, and started mining away at the ground.

"I didn't know you leveled your mining, Agil," Silica said. "I thought you would have spent too much time in your shop."

Agil shook his head. "Where do you think I got all of the materials to make all of those weapons? I was Lisbeth's ore provider." He swung at a rock, and cracked open a piece of it. "There," he said. He picked up the chunks of ore, and stored them in his inventory. "It mines just like iron, so you don't need a high level mining skill. If anyone else has picks. Start swinging!"

Many of them nodded. Kirito and Asuna didn't have any mining skill, so they sat together and watch. A few others also lacked such equipment and skill. Leafa, Michiko, Eulsam, Silica, the casters in Rexem's group and Rexem himself sat and watched.

"So," Kirito said. "Silica. How's life been in the city?"

"It's been good. How was your vacation date?" The younger girl giggled at Kirito.

"It was fun," Asuna said. "Nothing major happened though…" She hid her disappointment of that fact well.

Leafa caught it though, and glanced over to Kirito for a moment. She reached into her pocket, feeling that ring again. She hadn't gotten Kirito alone since the wedding, but had decided to give it back to him first chance she got now. It was a matter of privacy though. Clearly, he was keeping the item a secret from Asuna. She looked around. There wasn't anywhere to go where it was hidden here.

"Something wrong, Leafa?" Kirito asked, catching her off-guard.

She blinked, and shook her head. "No. No, nothing's wrong. I'm fine." She was being honest, and was just heavily distracted.

"So, Kirito," Silica said. She poked his side, glancing between him and Asuna. "When are you getting married?"

Kirito shrugged. "It's a game. We want a real wedding, and we already got married in a game once. I'm starting to think it might be bad luck."

Is he making excuses? That's what Asuna was starting to think. Her friend's words from a few days back were starting to weigh down on her. Sure, there were plenty of reasons Kirito might have been afraid of asking, some more reasonable than others. There were good reasons that he was just waiting. But the thought had crept in. Maybe, she thought, he doesn't want to get married. She couldn't imagine why… well she could, but those thoughts were far beyond the realm of reasonable possibilities to her.

"Isn't that true, Asuna?" Silica asked.

Asuna shook her head, and then shook again. "Sorry, I kind of dozed off there. Is what true?"

"I said you would stay in love with Kirito forever even if you didn't get married… because you've saved each other so many times now. I'm sorry it was more just me joking around."

"Hai," Asuna said, and then looked at Kirito with a smile. She nodded to him. "It's true though. I would." Kirito smiled back, and pulled her into a close hug.

Hael watched this all, and looked over to Blue. They were having a conversation of their own. "Okay, so Rexem's is '99 Problems,' Azrealda's is 'Chop Suey.' How'bout those two?"

Kirito and Asuna took notice as Blue and Hael watched them. They didn't know what they were talking about yet.

"I'm Gonna Be,' by the Proclaimers," Blue said. At that, Hael laughed and nodded.

"What are you laughing about?"

"Oh," Hael said. "We're coming up with theme songs for our group. You two share one…"

Asuna and Kirito looked at them funny, and Asuna asked. "What's our theme song?"

"I'm Gonna Be," Blue said. They were still lost.

"You know… 'Five Hundred Miles?" Hael asked.

"How does it go?" Kirito asked, curiously.

"You know…" Blue said. "like… Dada da… Dada da."

"Dadum dumdadaladada," Hael finished.

Asuna and Kirito looked at them like they had two heads. Leafa looked at them too, just as confused, and tilted her head slightly to the left.

"They're making fun of you," Eulsam said as he came back to the group, and joined the conversation. He sighed and sat down. "It's an old one-hit wonder by an Irish band. It's a really corny love song that became a pop… more like cult hit. Don't worry about it… They're clowns."

Kirito and Asuna nodded, and Asuna started to pull out lunch she made for the group. Blue and Hael continued laughing at them for a brief moment longer, and then accepted the offered meal.

"What's Sammy's?" Blue asked.

"Cee Lo…" Hael nodded.

Blue laughed hysterically, and nearly dropped his food. Eulsam didn't seem happy about it at all. "That's terrible," he said. "That's just mean… but it's so funny and true." Eulsam took his meal and went away from the group to eat on his own. Michiko looked over at him, starting to get worried, but shook her head, letting him deal with his own problems for now.

* * *

><p>Lisbeth had been taking to the edge of the great chasm where Death Oath sent that poor girl to her death a few weeks back. Her hands were bound, but not just by the writs. He hands were completely encased in an iron cast, which was attached to a chain that GothGod himself dragged along. She still wore her wedding dress, and was incapable of even changing her gear, much less equipping a weapon to fight with.<p>

Once they arrived, GothGod used a magic spell to bind the end of the chain to the ground. He then turned back to Lisbeth, and looked her over. She was quiet, and miserable. She looked down at the ground, and summoned all of her emotional strength to not cry or act frightened. The last thing she wanted to do was leave the world in such a miserable state.

"You look terrible," the Black Prophet said. "Boys… clean her up a bit, would you? Swap out those shackles with something more fitting, you don't have to take her items, after all our friend might want her to keep them and we wouldn't want to upset him."

They approached her, and removed the shackles around her. This freed her, but she didn't run. She knew if she did, she would only be captured again anyways. Her best chance would be to buy time, and save her strength. Two of the Death Oath even went as far as to take wet, clean rags and wipe her face and hands clean.

GothGod looked her over, and shrugged. "Presentable, at least. I assume you know that any attempt to draw your weapons and fight would be useless?" Lisbeth didn't answer. The leader of the Death Oath cupped her chin in her hands, and tilted her head up. Then he held tightly, and forced her to nod. "Yes, sir," he said in a higher pitched voice. "I'm not stupid. If I take out a weapon, a two hundred ton dragon will eat me."

Lisbeth blinked and gasp, pulling away from him. "Don't act so surprised," GothGod said. "Virgin bride, omens of destruction…" He pointed behind him with his thumb. "Giant chasm of death." Lisbeth turned her head back down, and didn't say a word. "Relax though," he said. "We're not going to kill you." She looked up, and raised a brow. GothGod turned around and walked to the edge of the cliff. "Smuldur!" he shouted. "We have what you asked for! Are you awake?"

"If I were asleep," the powerful voice rumbled through the hole. "Do you think your puny voice could awaken me?" There was a shaking, and rumbling as the dragon climbed up from the pit, and out of it. It was huge, and circled around the entire group, blocking off any possible escape routes. It raised its wings and spread them out in a demonstration of power to the newcomer, and faced her directly, his massive head nudging GothGod out of its path as it came less than one foot away from Lisbeth.

Liz looked up at the dragon, and took a step back. Was it fear, or some kind of deep seated respect for power? The monster was massive, larger than most of the creatures she had seen. Larger than Hydra or Medusa… even larger than Cronus, but admittedly, not as big or frightening as what was at the end of Tartarus, nor did he ring with such profound power as Gaea did when she saw her. But he was still fearsome. The word she looked for… awe. She was in awe at the dragon.

Smuldur's head moved close to her, and he sniffed her. She shivered, and couldn't help but feel creeped out and grossed out by the action. The dragon stunk of dead thinks and smoke. But this… also smelled beautiful to her, in a way. It was strange, how she perceived the dragon. From his huge, yellow eyes to his bright red scales and tremendous size.

Smuldur had an effect on women. It was not charisma or charm, however, but a magical one, or perhaps some strange pheromone. It couldn't be said for sure one way or the other. But a particular breed of people would grow a strange affection for him… particularly humans of the opposite sex… and more particularly, virgin humans.

"Ahh," Smuldur said. "I see you have not tried to deceive me by bringing me some slut." It reared its head back and looked down at her. "Are you afraid, human?" The dragon's voice was far less powerful now that he was closer, as if he intentionally toned it down once he climbed the cliff's edge.

Lisbeth nodded slowly. Was there any point in lying here?

"Do you fear that I will kill you, and eat you like I did the last human girl they brought me?"

Lisbeth was frozen, and then she shook. She nodded again. The dragon smiled, and then laughed at her. "You have no reason to be afraid of me, then. You have not been brought here to be eaten. I have much more important things to do with you…"

"Like what?" Lisbeth asked. She noticed none of the Death Oath talked. They would not dare interrupt the dragon's conversation with her.

"Dragons are a complex species," Smuldur said. "I am the only surviving member of my kind. The rest of us were hunted down by the races of this world long ago. To many other beasts, this would mean extinction. But not for our kind. If there is only one of us, a whole new generation can be brought into the world."

Lisbeth took another step back. Needless to say, she was less than comfortable with where this conversation was headed. "We need only a suitable companion to breed with. The requirements are rather upsetting to many. You, my queen, fulfil those requirements. A virgin, kidnapped from the altar on her wedding day. Forget about your former plans, my dear. I will take the place of your fiancé, and you will be mine from this day forward."

Lisbeth went pale, and shook her head. "Oh, but… you're so huge, and I'm just a tiny little human. It would never work!" She laughed a little, going someone insane over her predicament.

As she spoke, Smuldur appeared to shrink down inside, his form changing until he was no different than an exceptionally large human. He retained many aspects of his dragonhood: wings, tail, claws. But he stood upright, walked on two legs, and was now humanoid. "Oh, that's not fair," Lisbeth said as she looked at him.

"Smuldur," GothGod said, finally interrupting. "I don't mean to interrupt, but… she's not yours yet. We have a deal that needs to be fulfilled. We were honorable in dealing with you, and we expect your part of the bargain to be fulfilled before we continue on any farther."

Smuldur looked at the Black Prophet, and walked past Lisbeth. "I will return shortly, my queen. I expect her to be here when I return."

"Of course," GothGod said. "We'll chain her up and keep her right here."

"If you shackle my bride, or hurt her in any way, I will kill you."

Lisbeth blinked. "At least he's protective…" she muttered. It would buy her some time, like she needed.

"How shall we keep her from escaping, then?" GothGod asked.

"Use your magic like you always do, cowards. Or perhaps you can bargain her into staying." As he spoke, Smuldur transformed back into his fully fledged dragon form. "It matters little to me. I have your scents. There is no place in the world you can hide from me now." He quickly turned back and thrust his head towards GothGod. "But you can consider yourself my bride's servants until I return to claim her. Clean her up and treat her to dinner…"

Lisbeth actually laughed at that. GothGod could do nothing but nod, and say, "As you wish…" The great dragon flapped his wings, and wind gusted out around the area as he took off, and flew westward.

* * *

><p>Kirito and the others stopped at a small town in the western portion of the Forest Ring to forge their new weapons. The town was one of the smallest to date, and had a population of under fifty players. It was so small, that it was hidden in the forest, and had the group not been flying, they would have missed it entirely.<p>

Azrealda and Rexem both forged their weapons in Lisbeth's place. Neither was nearly as skilled as the captive bride, but they would have to suffice for now. Later, the weapons could be re-forged. The smith shop was small, and the town's blacksmith helped them out a little bit.

Michiko constructed her own weapon. While she had high blacksmithing, her weapon was complex, and large. It took a lot of attention to forge the pieces. Furthermore, the ore that the group gathered wasn't enough to fully forge new weapons from.

"So how are we going to get enough material for all of us?" Klein asked, looking at the cauldrons of liquid steel in the fires of the forge. "I know it looks like a lot, but we never have enough to make what we need, and now we have twice as many players as we used to."

"Here's my thinking," Azrealda said. "All of our weapons are made out of pretty strong metals right now, so we break them up, and use what we have as a base. Silver Steel is merely needed to pierce the dragon's scales, so only our edges and blades need to be forged with it. We'll make only the blades of our weapons with Silver Steel, and only the edges at that, and make them interlock with the altered base pieces."

"I see," Michiko said. "Then we'll heat them up and fuse them together once we've got them sized up properly. That may even leave us a decent amount of Silver Steel left over if we ration it out."

"I'll actually need the most," Sinon said. "My arrowheads are small, but if I run out in the middle of battle, I'll be useless."

"What about the spell casters?" Leafa asked.

"I've been wondering about that, too," Blue said. "Leafa and Hael at least do their healing. If our magic can't hurt the dragon though, what good will we be? We don't use weapons, so Silver Steel won't be much of a help to us."

"I'm not sure," Rexem said. "I thought about it, but I haven't figured it out yet." Rexem looked through some weapon casts, and found a suitable one to use. It was for a hammer head, but instead of flat heads, both heads were a single, short spike. "This will do…"

"Blue," Asuna said. "You'll be needed on the ground. The dragon's going to be using fire attacks, so your water sorcery will be invaluable in the defense of anyone on the ground. You could also stop its breath weapons in their tracks. Water is a perfect counter to fire, which means that the right spell at the right time will negate one hundred percent of the damage."

"And what about us?" Matt asked. "Our magic won't be much good out there."

"Sure it will," Kirito said. "You just won't be using damaging effects. Concentrate on tactical buffs. Make sure to catch us with a levitate if we fall. Use flashes of light to distract and blind the dragon. Things like that."

"I feel like our talents are really going to waste here," Sarah said.

"Don't worry about that," Xaela said. "My special ability, as well as Kleins, will be totally useless against a single large target. We depend on multiple targets to perform at our best. Speaking of which… Asuna."

Asuna looked to Xaela. "Yeah?" she asked.

Xaela held out her spear to her. "Legendary weapons ignore things like total immunity to attacks, such as a dragon's scales. This is from the Erinyes. I want you to use it this battle, it will be better off in your hands, with your Valkyrie abilities."

"N-no," Asuna said. "I can't take that. It's yours."

"It's just as long as we're fighting dragons," Xaela said. "I won't take no for an answer. Once we've slain our dragon, I'll take it back, and give you a spear of Silver Steel."

Asuna took a moment before accepting the gift, and dropped it into her inventory. "I won't let it go to waste."

As Azrealda, Rexem and Michiko were forging their weapons, they continued on with their discussion, moving on to strategy. "Asuna… Kirito," Hael said. "You share damage and healing. If you can turn that off, do so during our battle."

They both blinked, and looked at each other. Kirito answered first. "I'm sorry," he said. "I can't do that."

"The dragon will likely be large, and will have lots of magical and non-magical area of effect attacks. Leafa and I will be hindered if we have to heal Asuna extra because of the damage you take from those."

"It's a valid point," Eulsam said. "Take 'em off."

Asuna shook her head. "I'm sorry, but that defeats the whole point of having them. If one of us dies, we both die. We don't want to live without the other, and we won't see each other die alone again."

"Don't you get it, shrimps?" Azrealda said. "This fight is bigger than the two of you. If that dragon is let loose on the world, thousands of players will die. If you want to commit suicide afterwards because your lover died in battle, then so be it. But in this fight… we need you. Everyone in this world needs you to do your absolute best." Azrealda held up her newly crafted claymore, and felt its weight. She blinked. "It's… it's lighter."

Rexem held his new hammer up. "Aye," he said. "Not just like the metal is lightweight, but it's like my whole weapon is easier to—" He seemed surprised as he looked at the weapons stats. "Plus… plus forty-five strength!"

The group looked on in surprise. Azrealda nodded. "And a two handed weapon gets plus sixty."

"Shouldn't it be double?" Silica asked.

"It's part of my Paladin combat style," Rexem said. "I can carry a shield and a hammer that counts as a one-point-five handed weapon. A one-handed weapon would probably get thirty bonus to strength."

"Sampson," Agil said. "That means your strength can be counted as having an additional sixty points with your new axe. Your damage output will be amazing!" He looked to Sampson, who sat quietly in a corner, looking down at his weapon. "Sampson?"

"He hasn't talked since we left," Klein said. "I think we should just let him be."

"Is that really a good idea? If he's distracted in combat—"

"It might actually help," Michiko said. "In The Underworld, there was a moment when Lisbeth was stricken by one of the Erinyes."

"Right," Asuna said. "I remember, it turned on his special ability…" Suddenly Asuna had an epiphany. "Azrealda," she said. "Make Sampson two identical axes!"

"Why?" she asked. "He won't get to use both of them. It's a waste of Silver Steel."

"It's not," Sinon said. She looked over at Sampson. "His special ability was rage related, and it turned him into a minotaur. Every minotaur we encountered, including the boss in Tartarus, could dual wield two-handed weapons."

Azrealda stopped and her mouth went agape. She looked at Sampson, and shook her head. "That… that's incredible. And you think when his rage ability activates, he'll be able to dual wield his huge axes?"

"Dual wielding by itself is powerful enough in this game," Agil said. "The damage output is going to be out of this world once Sampson goes berserk against that dragon."

Michiko silently watched Sampson. She didn't like this conversation. They were so ready and willing to turn their friend into a weapon. She looked to Xaela, who didn't seem to want any part of it either. It was eerily similar to the way Red-Handed turned slaves into guild members, using their fear and pain to turn them into weapons. There was a moment where Xaela looked back at Michiko, to notice her looking at her. Xaela raised a brow, and Michiko quickly looked back to her work.

"I'll be outside," Kirito said. "I could use some fresh air."

Leafa blinked, and got up to go out before even he did. Asuna was busy watching Rexem craft her a sword. It was perfect. Once outside, Leafa approached Kirito, and motioned for him to move back somewhere more private. They went behind a small building, and before speaking, Leafa slapped him on the cheek. He raised his hands and shouted. "What was that for?"

Leafa held up the ring she had in her pocket, and gave him a serious look. "How long were you going to hold onto this?"

"You had it all this time?" Kirito asked. He reached for it, and she pulled it away. "Leafa… please give that back to me."

"You lost it when you died," she said. "You held onto it for nearly a year and a half while Asuna never thought you were ever going to make a move. While she was pregnant, while she gave birth to your daughter… when were you going to tell her?"

"Leafa…" Kirito went close to her. "I was waiting…"

"I want to know, Kirito… before I give this back to you… you do plan to marry her, right?"

Kirito nodded.

"Well then what were you waiting for that whole time?" she asked.

Kirito sighed. "I was going to ask her… I was working up the nerve right before this game started."

Leafa blinked at him. "Really?"

"When the game started, personal items and cosmetic items that had no stat value still transferred in."

"I know that… so you're saying…"

"I had it the entire time. I planned something out. I was going to ask her after we cleared… I don't even remember the name of it." Kirito sat down, and leaned his back against the wall of the building. "I had it all planned out. Remember how I was almost two minutes late entering the game?"

Leafa sat next to him as she nodded. Kirito sighed once more. "I put another ring on her finger, in the real world. It was identical to this one. I would propose to her in the game, and she'd wake up wearing an identical band in the real world when she woke."

"That's… that's actually kind of sweet."

While the two talked, Asuna wandered out of the blacksmith shop, practicing with her new sword. She looked around for Kirito, and heard Leafa and him talking. She stayed hidden, and listened in.

"But now… I'm just not sure," Kirito said.

"Not sure of what?" Leafa asked.

Kirito hung his head down. "About everything. About marriage… about raising a child. This game looks like it's never going to end. What's the point?"

"Does it matter?" Leafa asked. "Don't you love her?"

Kirito nodded. "But how long will we last? I've already died, and I know what happened afterwards. How she felt, how everyone was worried she might hurt herself. I heard the stories about how she changed when everyone went into Tartarus, and become a fiercer warrior than I ever was in Sword Art Online."

"What's your point, Kirito?"

"I could die again… she could die. And there'd be no guarantee that we'd come back this time. We've been down this road before. In SAO. In Alfheim. And now here, in Vearth. I don't know if I can go on with this love. If I died and all she could do was kill herself… I wouldn't want that to happen. But if she died, I couldn't think to do much differently than that. If we get married, how would that make things better?" By now, Kirito was crying quietly. He tried to keep himself from doing it, but couldn't. Leafa wrapped an arm over his back, and held him close.

"Maybe it wouldn't," Leafa said. "But that's not why people get married, you know. Did you expect some sort of happily ever after and to go riding off into the sunset?"

He shrugged. "I don't know what I expected. And if we move one, what then? Will I just find another girl to fall in love with? Will she fall in love with another guy? If that's all it's coming to, I don't want it. How can that be worth dying for?"

Asuna blinked, and looked down at the ground. The more she heard, the worse she started to feel, and without making her presence known, she turned and left her spot, going to some other part of the town to sit alone.

"Of course it can," Leafa said. "If you love her, then you would want that for her… to move on instead of falling into depression, to find love again. She loves you, and I know that she would want that for you if things were reversed." Leafa hugged her brother, and held the ring out to him again. "I'm giving this back to you… but I want you to promise me something."

"What?" Kirito asked as he took it from her.

"Once this dragon is done with," she said. "And you both make it out of it alive, which you will, because you are you… propose."

Kirito gripped the ring in his fist, and reached up to hug Leafa back. "I promise…"

"That looks like it was emotional," Michiko said as she stood and watched them.

Leafa looked up, and saw her there. "Uhh… Michiko," Leafa said. "How long have you been there?" Kirito stood up and looked at her too. He was less concerned about it.

"Long enough to come up with a more relevant introduction," she said. "Kirito…"

Kirito nodded. "What?"

"I was going to say that I had something for you, and just toss you your new weapons," Michiko said. "But now I think I'm going to say… someone who loves you very much wanted something special for you. These…" Michiko took out a pair of long swords to give to him. Kirito's eyes widened, and he shook with something akin to excitement. "I am told… will serve as a reminder to yourself of who you are. I didn't know what that meant at first. But I thought about it. You are a good person, who strives to be the best for everyone around you… a person who feels much love, and has suffered so much for love's sake."

The swords Michiko handed over to Kirito were no ordinary swords. They were long, and their handles were properly decorated. The base of the weapon was forged with Black Steel that Michiko had cut from her special weapon when she refitted it. The handle, grip and middle of the blades were therefore black, and the edge of the blade of pure Silver Steel. And both of them were spitting images of the famed sword he wielded long ago in the world of Aincrad, each of them had the name of the blade carved into it.

"_Elucidator"_


	21. Chapter 21: The Sands of Time

Smuldur, the great dragon flew across the sky over the land. He was fast, and with his size, wherever he flew over, for a moment, the sun was blotted out from the sky. The first player occupied town he graced was the Temple of Gaea, where he formerly occupied an entrance to the old epic dungeon The Temple of Fire. Players looked up as the shadow passed, and saw him flying overhead.

He looked down at the place, and saw the green landscape quickly turn to yellow and brown as he flew into the Dune Sea. It took, in all, a little more than seventeen hours to go from the depths of the Green Mountains to the inner edge of the ring forest, but as he got closer, he flew lower. Already, since players saw him from the Temple of Gaea, messages were going out.

His first target approached, and he swept down towards it. When he got close to the trees, the wind from the flapping of his wings blew trees so hard that their branches flung from the trunks, and a few even snapped at the base. His eyes glowed red, and as he opened his maw, flames poured out. While he flew, they created a trail of blazing smoke behind him.

His first breath was at the edge of the forest, and when he blasted the ground with his flames, it charred the land, and started a forest fire. The blast of flames dragged from there all the way to just outside of the town of Eastown. Seeing his hostility, players ran for their lives, evacuating the town and making a run for the city of Newberg.

The colossal monster circled back on the town, and climbed in height, up into the air. Players who instead of fleeing hid in the town panicked as he crashed into the town hall. A great seismic wave rippled out as he landed, and nearby buildings crumbled and collapsed. The town hall was flatted immediately upon landing.

The town's defenders rushed into combat, but were hopelessly outmatched by the beast. With a flap of its wings, not only were the charging players lifted and thrown by the wind, but the weaker, wooden structures fell apart as the air slashed through them. Just from that, most of the attackers were killed instantly, and the remainder of them fled.

Smuldur thrust his head forward, and let out another stream of flames, turning as the blast let out. The flames blew to the edges of the town, and lit it all up. Like that, Eastown was wiped off the map. The dragon took off again, and the buildings that were still standing, now weakened by flames, finally collapsed.

Not much could be done for the players fleeing towards Newberg. As the dragon flew by, he stayed low, and his fiery breath spewed. Not a single survivor came from the attack on Eastown, and after Smuldur was finished there, he flew on towards the city. He was merely a few minutes away.

* * *

><p>In the small, forest town without a name, where the heroes forged their weapons, a great gathering was starting to form in the middle of town. The few players who lived there had all come together for a town meeting, and had gotten the attention of the heroes, who stood around and listened.<p>

"As you all may or may not be aware," one person spoke. He wasn't a leader, as a town this size didn't need much of one. "Eastown, a small player village east of Newberg, is no more. As little as ten minutes ago, we started receiving messages… distress calls from the people who lived there. To those who knew anyone there, I am sorry… but I got a message from a friend who just arrived. The town has been razed to the ground, and this is only the beginning." He took a breath. "Over the last several hours, we started getting messages about a huge monster… a dragon heading for the Kingdom of Newberg. They started as far east as a place called the Temple of Gaea, said to be nearly three weeks away on horseback. The dragon is heading to the city as we speak. At its current rate, it will arrive within minutes."

The town was all shocked, and frightened by the news. "We have to help them!" someone said. "The heroes!"

Kirito looked up at the call for help.

"They came here talking about forging weapons to fight the dragon!" another player said. She pointed at Kirito, and the rest of the group. "We let them use our forge and they promised us safety. Heroes… are you ready to fight?"

The whole town looked at them. Kirito looked to each member of his group. Rexem gave a nod. "Asuna," Kirito muttered. "Has anyone seen Asuna?" Everyone was with them except for her.

"I'll find her," Sinon said before bolting off.

"How can we help?" the discussion continued at the town's center. "We can fight! Let us join you!" another person said. Another then said, "Please, hurry. I have many friends in Newberg!"

"Calm down," Michiko said, moving towards the crowd. "We promised we would fight this beast, and stop him before any harm came. We had hoped to find him where he slept, and engage him before he attacked, but… but it looks like he was ready before we were." Michiko was trying to figure out what to say. In her heart, she was fearful for the city of Newberg. She had hoped they would slay it before something like this happened. Were they too late?

Rexem put his fingers in his mouth, and whistled. Everyone in his party knew what that meant, and they all mounted their pegasi. "Asuna or no," he said to Kirito. "We have to go now. Every second we waste here, another hundred players die."

Kirito gasped, and looked at him. He thought through it and nodded. He mounted his pegasus, and the rest of their group did the same. "He's right. Sinon!" he shouted. "We don't have time. I'll send her a message!"

Sinon was already a bit of a ways away, looking for Asuna. She didn't find her by the time she heard Kirito's call. She wasn't sure about it, but nodded to herself, and mounted up, and equipped her best gear including her Silver Steel arrows.

While the rest of Kirito's group flew off, he turned to address the town. "The dragon cannot be harmed by anything other than Silver Steel and Legendary Weapons. You can't help us, so don't try. If you do, you'll just die. Stay here… be safe!" With that, he took off, and flew after the others into the sky.

Asuna sat somewhere in the forest, leaning up against a tree. She was too far away to hear anything going on in the town. She saw the messages flood in, but her heart was in the wrong place. She was still thinking of the conversation she eavesdropped on between Kirito and Leafa.

"Kirito," she whispered to herself. "Kirito doesn't love me anymore?" She saw a message coming from him, but didn't open it up to read it. She held her finger on the button, but instead just closed the window that had popped up. "That's why he doesn't want to marry me…" Then she recalled the part where he talked about falling in love with someone else. She pulled her knees close to her. "Does he… did he already find someone else?"

* * *

><p>The team rode up on the dragon. It was already breathing fire on the city below, and the bells rang out in alarm as the screams of the players shot up through the air. "Without Asuna," Rexem said. "We'll switch back to a solo tanking style. I will stay at the dragon's mouth, and keep its fire breath directed away from everyone else."<p>

"There's no way you can take on that much damage," Hael said. "I won't be able to keep you alive if you do that."

"That's not going to work," Leafa said. "If there were two tanks, I could heal one of you while the other held its flames. Even then, it was an iffy strategy. The dragon will likely be dealing damage with its tail and claws too, to the other players. With one tank, it'll be impossible."

"Asuna will come," Kirito said.

"Until then, it's just me."

"I can tank," Agil said. "I can substitute, but with my no shield fighting style, it won't do much good."

"Asuna screwed us over," Sarah said. "She took Xaela's legendary weapon, and already had a legendary shield, and now she's bailing when we need her!"

"She'll come!" Kirito shouted. Before their conversation could continue, they were close enough to engage the dragon.

Rexem was first in. He activated his Paladin mode, and hurled his hammer at the dragon's face. It hit and caused the usual explosion of light, but even with that powerful ability, and Silver Steel as his weapon, the dragon barely took damage. He did get its attention though. Smuldur turned his head towards Rexem, and flew towards the group.

"And what is this?" Smuldur's voice was incredible, and shook the air. None of the players could talk over it. "A band of heroes has come to stop me? Bah!" When he got close enough, he flung his wings forward, ahead of himself, sending out a wave of wind that nearly knocked every player from their mount.

Rexem held his hand out, and his hammer flew back into it. He went up over the dragon's head, and into the sky as he maintained Smulder's attention. The dragon followed him, turning and directing his breath weapon upward, as planned.

But nothing, not even dragon's fire could breach the impenetrable shield of the Paladin mode. As Rexem's mount, his pegasus was also protected, and charged downward. As he flew past, he slammed his hammer into the dragon's nose. It dealt a little less damage than before.

"Attack now!" Kirito shouted. Everyone else charged in to fight. They slashed at the wings, the limbs, the body and the tail of the dragon, but each attack did such a small amount of damage that it couldn't even be measured in terms of single hits. Rather, the damage could only be seen in terms of fifteen or twenty hits. "Miserable worms!" Suldur shouted. He spun around, and his tail came swinging, hitting several players and knocking them off of their pegasi. The horses had no trouble, but for the others, Matt and Sarah, the two white mages, began casting levitation spells. They had called back their horses and mounted again before even hitting the ground.

The dragon ignored Rexem for a moment, and turned again to breathe flames against the players who had been scattered. It only hit a few of them. Their mounts took more damage than the players who rode them. "We can't fight him on our pegasi!" Klein shouted. "They'll die and we can't fly!"

"We need to get this thing to land!" Agil shouted.

Sampson looked at the dragon, and charged for it. He leapt off his horse, and as he fell down towards the dragon, his special ability activated. He grew to nearly three times his size, and immediately equipped his second axe. He landed on the dragon's head, and knocked it down towards the ground. During the fall, he drove one of the axe blades into the beast's back, dealing about a half of one percent of its health in damage.

Hitting the ground dealt damage to Sampson, but not to Smuldur. He used all of his might to then try to hold the head down. Smulder thrashed about against the ground, tearing up grass and trees. Though the players tried to approach him, many were knocked back by the thrashing. Sampson kept swinging his axes, one after the other, but in doing so, he lost his grip on the dragon's head.

Smuldur reared back, and let out a flurry of flames against the minotaur. Sampson stood his ground through the attack, and his health dropped quickly while he stood in the flames. Leafa and Hael both shot out healing spells as fast as possible. In the middle of the blast, Sampson leapt from his spot, and swung both axes wildly at the dragon's head. His rage soon subsided, and after a series of hits, he fell to the ground, and returned to normal, his second weapon disappearing into his inventory.

Rexem dropped back to the ground, and held his shield tightly. When he landed, he swung his weapon at the monster's head once more, getting its attention. Smuldur snapped at him. Since the thrashing ended, the melee attackers moved back into position, and fought desperately to bring the giant down. Despite all of their efforts, many having now expended their biggest hits, Smulder was still sitting comfortably at ninety-one percent of his total health.

The next breath attack came, and Blue saw it coming. He conjured a stream of water, blasting it at Smuldur's mouth, but the attack was all but ignored. At first it was just steam, but soon enough, the flames broke through and hit Rexem hard. His shield blocked a small fraction of the damage, and after the attack, his health sat below the forty percent mark, even with Hael tossing heals throughout the stream.

"It's too powerful!" he shouted.

"A pity!" Smuldur said back, keeping the players from communicating a new strategy. "That you should have gotten so far in your quest only to die here! Your Silver Steel and pegasi are not enough to face the dragon king!" He slammed his tail against the earth, and the players on the ground were all knocked down. Then, as they were getting up, he took off. The flap of his wings blew them back and away, but not in all directions, he did it in such a way to move them all in the same direction, getting them all clustered up before flying back into the sky.

Smuldur circled back on the group at high speeds. Cinders began to pour from his mouth and nose, the stream of smoke starting as he prepared his breath weapon once again. "Now!" he shouted, and as he spoke, flames began to erupt. "You die!" The blast of flames poured over the whole group. Leafa activated her shield at the last moment, but even that broke, and the players in the line of fire took considerable damage. Smuldur looked back on the still living party, and laughed. "A minor setback!" He circled back once more.

Kirito was farthest to the side in the group, and so he narrowly dodged the attack on the first run by rolling out of the way. He threw one of his weapons at Smuldur, hitting his cheek and nearly hitting his eye. It was enough to get Smuldur's attention. Kirito mounted his regular horse and charged away from the group as fast as possible.

"Unshielded," Smuldur said to him. "My flames will devour you easily! Burn! Whelp!" He opened his mouth and the flames showered Kirito. Leafa shouted for him, and started to run towards him. Once the flames stopped, Kirito's health was dropped down to only sixty percent. "What?" Smuldur shouted. "Impossible!" He landed again, and stared the hero down. "But it's no matter. No matter how much health you have. You don't stand a chance against my might!"

As Smuldur struck down with his head, to snap Kirito in his jaws, another player rescued him. Papa Bear, one of Rexem's party, hit him and knocked him away, but only to be snatched up himself, and swallowed whole. "Papa!" the man's son shouted for him. He charged next, with his scythe, and jumped into attack. Smuldur saw the move coming, and used one wing to knock the younger player away. It dealt a great deal of damage, but the boy was not yet dead.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Asuna's tears had stopped. She wiped them from her eyes, and sat there, thinking to herself. She thought about running away for the longest time. She wanted to do what Michiko had done, and simply disappear for a while until she had it all figured out. If her fears were true, and Kirito didn't love her, then what did that mean for her love? Was that gone too? Why wouldn't he tell her straight-forward? Was it perhaps because after Tartarus, he felt indebted to her?<p>

She stood up suddenly, and grabbed at her necklace, and thought about tearing it off. She grit her teeth, and stared at it angrily. "Kirito," she said. "How could you? After everything… you just want it to end?" She then let go and slumped back down to her seat. She shook her head. "I can't do it… I don't want to believe it."

Suddenly, she felt hot, very hot, and let out a scream as she felt like she was burning, and saw her health bar go down. She grabbed that necklace again, and nearly threw it off of her. Then, she let go once more, and summoned her pegasus mount up. "No…" she said. "I already decided I don't care what happens. I already decided I would love you, you idiot! No matter what…" She charged through the sky, equipping all of her best gear along the way.

* * *

><p>"Mana out!" Leafa shouted. The group was running low on everything. Rexem engaged the dragon head on as per his plan, but Hael couldn't keep up with him, much less the whole party. The dragon's health was run down to eighty percent now.<p>

"We'll never make it!" Eulsam shouted. "We need to retreat and regroup!"

"No!" Sampson shouted. He struck at the dragon's chest with his axe, and dealt an unexpected critical hit. Despite that, it failed to deal more than one percent of the monster's health in damage.

Smuldur turned his attention to the strong man, and snapped at him with its jaws. Sampson dropped his weapon and caught the beast's teeth before it snapped shut on him. "No!" he shouted again. "We have to fight! For Newberg! No… for all of the players!" Then he whispered to only himself. "For Liz…" His energy was draining faster than ever, and his strength was faltering. He took damage despite having stopped the attack, and was nearing death.

Sarah cast a spell suddenly, blinding the dragon with light. It let go of Sampson, and the berserker collapsed to catch his breath. The beast shook its head about, and roared violently. When it could see again, it looked up towards the sky where Asuna was charging into combat.

By the time she arrived, both Kirito and herself were standing at thirty percent health, and there were no heals coming to either of them. She activated her Valkyrie state, and her legendary spear of the Erinyes crackled with thunder and lightning. She shouted out as she threw the spear down at the dragon. It appeared to miss at first, not hitting his head, but then it struck the beast's chest as it was rearing up. She had remembered the supposed strategy for fighting Hydra back in Tartarus—it wasn't striking the head that would score a critical blow to something so powerful, but a blow to the heart. The dragon reeled back, and scrambled to take off into the air, its health suddenly dropped down to sixty percent.

Smuldur roared out in pain, and turned to flee the fight. It ripped that weapon from itself and let it fall to the ground. As it flew the other weapons lodged into its scales also fell out, and to the ground. The group would be able to retrieve them, even Sinon's arrows.

Everyone panted, and looked to Asuna as she landed on the ground and dismounted. "Asuna," Kirito said as he looked up. She froze, and wouldn't look back at him. "I knew you'd come," he said. After that he fell to the ground and rolled onto his back to let out a deep breath.

Sampson was the first to stand. "We're not done yet," he said. "We have to find Liz… And it's still alive." He continued to hyperventilate. "This thing… it isn't over."

Kirito had reached into his pocket. He felt that ring in his hands, but he knew it wasn't the right time yet. Sampson was right. They needed to kill the dragon, and they couldn't even bring it down to fifty percent of its health.

"What was that?" Sinon asked once she landed. "A lucky shot?" She looked at Asuna, who went to retrieve her spear.

She shook her head. "I remembered from fighting Hydra. It's kind of romantic in a way, now that I've thought about it. You kill the greatest monster in the game by stabbing it in the heart." She put her hand close to her chest, and felt her own heart beat within it.

"That's a good memory." Michiko stood up. "It'll be good to know when we're ready to fight it again."

* * *

><p>"It's really nothing personal," GothGod said as he sat on a rock near Lisbeth. "We just have to get some stuff done, and this was the fastest way to do it."<p>

Lisbeth glanced over at him, giving him a rude look. "It's nothing personal…" she said. "What kind of plan involves killing players by the thousands?"

He smirked at her, and then laughed a little. "It's not so much as a plan as a part of one. I don't want to give too much away, since you're going to live and one can never be too careful, but we need to make the ten thousandth player kill to move forward."

"Ten… ten thousandth?" Lisbeth looked at him and opened her mouth. "You're insane! So you got a dragon to exterminate… what would it have to be… nearly six thousand players for your plan?"

"More like two thousand…" GothGod said.

"Last I checked," Lisbeth said. "The death toll was just over two thousand."

"Just about four thousand players have died thus far since this death game began. So in total, there are nearly eight thousand player deaths."

"In total…" Lisbeth thought about it for a moment. "Wait a minute. You don't mean to say that—"

"Yes. The player deaths from Sword Art Online are counted. Smuldur promised us no more than two thousand corpses. Once he's finished, we'll be less than one hundred away from our objective."

"But… why would the deaths from another game more than six years ago now count towards your ten thousand?"

"I don't pretend to know everything. What I do know is my spell can only be finished by a player who executed the ten thousandth kill, and the death counter attached to that spell includes those who died in Sword Art Online."

"Smuldur returns," a whisper spoke, stopping the conversation. "He is weak."

"What?" GothGod looked off into the distance. Smuldur's health bar sat at around eighty percent. The mighty dragon crashed down near them, and folded in his wings. He looked down at GothGod, and growled angrily at him.

"Explain yourselves," the voice echoed out. It rumbled across the land.

"Explain what?" GothGod asked.

Smuldur roared at him, the sound and wind from his mouth knocking the Black Prophet backwards. "I flew to Newberg, and I had killed nearly eighteen hundred humans, but before I could finish, a band of heroes attacked me!"

"But… great dragon!" GothGod said standing up. "You have said yourself that your scales cannot be pierced by any weapon. No magic could injure you!"

"A band of champions armed with Silver Steel!" Smuldur shouted. "A metal that I have not seen in thousands of years, since the fall of Al'Kur! You have deceived me, whelp!"

"No!" GothGod said, holding up his hands. "I wouldn't dare attempt to break our trust. I collected payment in advance for you. Why would I—"

"Liar!" Smuldur shouted. "You sent me into a trap!" He flapped his wings, and the Death Oath were scattered about. Lisbeth was safe from the blast of wind, however, as Smuldur's tail had plucked her up, and held her away. As the dragon took to the air, he breathed his flames down upon Death Oath, and many of them were burned alive in a few mere seconds.

GothGod jumped out of the way, and began to flee the dragon. Smuldur took after him, and went to consume the fleeing player. At the last moment, just as the dragon's teeth snapped down, the Black Prophet activated a teleportation spell, and vanished. "GothGod!" Smuldur shouted. "My children will hunt you down to the ends of the world! There will be no safe place for you to hide!" His voice was so powerful that nearly five miles away, where GothGod had teleported to, could hear.

Lisbeth held on tightly to Smuldur's tail, not wanting to be at the dragon's mercy, but even less interested in being caught in the blasts of fire he was showering across the ground. As he started to fly away, he placed the blacksmith on his back. "Hold tight," he spoke to her. "If you fall at the speed, and at this height, you will not survive."

Lisbeth looked down. She considered jumping, but shook her head. She looked for something to hold onto, and ran up towards his neck to grab hold of some of the frills that protruded, almost like hair, from the back of the dragon's head. The dragon soared through the sky once again. "Where are we going?" Lisbeth shouted. Now alone, she could send messages out to her friends safely.

"It would take hundreds of years for a new brood to hatch and grow into a powerful flight of dragons. But I have knowledge of an artifact with which I can alter the progression of time, and age our young in a matter of days instead."

"Our… young?" Lisbeth gulped at the prospect, and closed her eyes. She couldn't think about it now, and would have to cross that bridge when she came to it. After a few moments of being nearly sick, she looked up, and started sending messages to friends.

* * *

><p>Kirito and the others had met back up in the city of Newberg. Players there were down and beaten. Many cried and many were already starting to sift through the wreckage, searching for salvage and survivors.<p>

"Asuna," Kirito said as they headed for the town square. "Can we talk?"

Asuna didn't respond to him. She was still rather upset, and she was still trying to figure things out in her head.

"Asuna," Rexem said. "Can we talk? About your absence in the face of battle… about your silence… about the player we lost in that fight?"

"Can you please shut up?" Kirito asked the other party leader.

"If you had been there sooner," Rexem said. "Papa would still be alive right now. I don't care—" He was suddenly interrupted as Eulsam pulled his father by the collar and pushed him against the wall of a building. "You want to fight, boy?" he shouted back.

"I'm sick of you," Eulsam said, letting go of him. "I'm sick of your rudeness, your attitude about other players… I'm sick of how you treat people. Who do you think you are?"

Azrealda pulled Eulsam by the shoulder and shoved him away. "He's our guild leader, and your father, shrimp," she said to him. "If you're going to fight him, you're going to have to go through all of us. Are you ready to do that?"

Kirito's group, except for Asuna, had all stopped to watch the tense moment. "Your whole guild…" Eulsam said, looking at each of them. "You're a bunch of assholes. If it weren't for the fame and the experience a battle against a dragon promised… you wouldn't even be here." He shook his head in something of disbelief at all of them. "And you're toxic…" he looked directly at his father.

"Papa and Little Bear shouldn't have even been fighting alongside you," Michiko said. "They should have been somewhere safe this whole game. Now that poor boy had to watch his father die."

"Little Bear," Rexem said as he turned to the youngest player in their group. "Do you want to leave? Or will you stay and fight? Your father was loyal to the guild… and that dragon killed him. We'll take revenge on that loathsome beast, and then we'll take vengeance on everyone in the group of players who summoned it!"

Little Bear looked up at him, and wasn't sure how to respond. Rexem's struck quite the nerve in Michiko though, and she didn't hesitate to punch the man in the face. Then everyone had weapons drawn and aimed at each other. The townsfolk watching all gasped in shock. They didn't know what was going on, only that the group of heroes—the only ones who stood a chance to help them, couldn't get along.

"It wasn't Asuna that killed him, then!" Kirito shouted at Rexem. "It was his poorly placed loyalty in you, and a guild who cared little for his survival!"

"He died saving you!" Azrealda shouted at Kirito. "Maybe you're the one to blame here!" Little Bear had backed away from the group and hid behind a barrel in a nearby alley. "You think you're so special because you saved everyone from Sword Art Online. Tons of good it did! Here we are now!"

"You can't seriously blame Kirito for this game," Eulsam said back. He directed one sword at Azrealda and another at his father. Xaela aimed both of her weapons at Rexem as Kirito pointed both swords at Azrealda. In response, Azrealda held up her claymore towards Eulsam, and Rexem stepped partway into Xaela's threatening spear. Asuna had kept walking on, and was long gone by now.

"You still try to play on loyalty," Agil said, pointing towards where Little Bear hid. "Trying to keep him in your team. You're just using him as a weapon, like you use everyone in your group."

"We are just as bad, then," Michiko pointed out. "We have done the same with a member of our own group. Have any of you stopped to think about how Sampson actually feels about all of this… and stopped thinking about him as a raging bull to throw at the enemies?"

"Stop it!" Sampson shouted over everyone. "Just stop it! Asuna… Kirito and Rexem… his guild. None of them killed anyone! The dragon killed him. Death Oath is responsible for that. They're responsible for all of these deaths." He gestured around the group, to the town. He then looked to Michiko, and nodded to her. "Thank you… for saying that, but I am a grown man. I know my strengths, and I know myself. I know I am useful this way." He took a deep breath, and shook his head. "I don't know who you people think you are. And not just you, Rexem, or your guild, but you too, Kirito… the rest of you. You let your status in this world become more important than who you are. You forsake friends… lovers… your own flesh and blood for the sake of honor… duty and loyalty. Instead of relying on each other for companionship, you've come only to depend upon one another in the field of battle, while your friendships have fallen outside of combat. Kirito…" Sampson looked at the dual wielder. "When you came back, you asked us to drop everything to help you. You answered our wedding invitation with an invitation to join your crusade." Then he turned to Rexem. "And you… I don't know you. But you and your friends have come between us in many ways. You have laughed at our bonds, and our struggles. You only see us as allies of convenience, and have no compassion for our friends. I ask you… if we were not working together, would you point the blame at each other and not us?"

There was a moment of silence then, and the players all put their weapons away. They still didn't want to talk to each other, and so for a while, no one broke the silence. "Alright," Rexem said. "Since we can't stand each other, we'll agree not to talk outside of strategy meetings and combat. Send us a message when you're ready to go slay a dragon. Try not to take too long behind your mothers' legs. And tell Asuna I owe her one." With that, Rexem turned and walked away. His group followed him, Little Bear the last behind them.

"Little Bear," Michiko said. The boy turned, and Azrealda glanced back for a moment to watch. "You don't have to go with them. You don't belong on the front lines…" The boy stopped and looked back at her. He didn't really know what to do. "We have friends that can help you do… whatever you want to do."

"Are you going to poach my youngest player?" Rexem said as he stopped. The young child opened his player menu, and left the guild, and then the party. Rexem blinked and kept moving forward again. "Fine… we didn't need you anyways. Besides she's right. You don't belong at the front."

The boy watched them all leave, and then looked back at Michiko. "I will fight with you," he said simply.

Sampson looked up as he saw a blinking message icon appear next to his vitals. He opened the menu and immediately opened the message after seeing who it was from. "It's from Liz!" he said. Everyone gathered around. "She says that there was some kind of altercation between Death Oath and Smuldur. And that as a result, Smuldur took her and headed north. And she says… no matter what happens, I love you… what's that supposed to mean?" He was starting to panic.

"Nothing good," Eulsam said. He then shut his mouth as the rest of the group glared at him. "I apologize… I was being blunt."

"A message from the Oracle at the Temple of Gaea," Kirito then said. "It says its urgent, that we need to go there immediately."

"It is likely related," Michiko said. "Leafa… can you perform a mass teleport yet?"

Leafa nodded. "Yeah, but… where's Asuna?"

"I'll find her," Sinon said before running off. "Meet me in the town square!" she shouted as she left.

* * *

><p>Sinon used the player tracker to find Asuna, and she found her as she ran into a bar in the town. When she went in, she looked around, and saw her through a crowd. They were having an 'end of the world' party, and players were drinking to great excess there. "Asuna!" she tried to shout over the crowd. When she got closer, she saw the woman talking to a strange man. She used her perception skills to listen in before she tried to get the girl's attention once more. It wasn't just chit chat, though. She sighed and looked at Asuna judgmentally when she heard her flirting with this other player.<p>

She approached a little slower, and tapped her on the shoulder when she got close. "Asuna," she said. "What are you doing?"

Asuna looked to Sinon, and waved at her. "Hi," she said. "I'm having fun. What's it look like?"

Sinon was a little dumbfounded, and didn't know how to respond. "It… it looks like you're flirting."

Asuna nodded slowly. "Yeah, you should try it some time. It doesn't seem like you get out enough." She took Sinon by the shoulders and turned her towards another player, drinking alone at the end of the bar. "Go over to him and ask him to buy you a drink."

Sinon shook her head and turned back. "What's wrong with you?" She looked at Asuna's vitals, and saw no strange buffs or lack of will or spirit… nothing other than her drunkenness. She shooed the other player away. "She's spoken for, beat it," she told him.

Asuna frowned and looked at Sinon. "Okay… what?"

"What?" Sinon asked. "What about Kirito?"

"What about him?"

Sinon was again stricken dumb, with no clue how to respond. She stared back at a moment. "You know… Kirito. The guy who's in love with you? You had a baby with him? Ringing any bells?"

Asuna sighed, and sat down at the bar. "Sinon… he doesn't care."

Now, Sinon thought. Now was when Asuna was going to have some kind of mental breakdown. "Sinon," she said. "We really don't have time for this. We have to go to the Temple of Gaea. Something big is happening!"

"Something big is always happening," Asuna said. "I need something small to happen for once… like that guy over there." She pointed off into the crowd, and Sinon didn't bother to look where. "Truth is… Kirito said he doesn't love me anymore, so I'm just… expanding my options. That's all."

"When… he really said that?" Sinon asked. She didn't believe her.

"Yep," she said. "I overheard him talking with his sister. It's totally true, and he doesn't have the courage to tell me directly because I saved his life."

Sinon blinked at her. "I don't believe you. You only heard part of a conversation and it's probably way out of context. And that doesn't matter! You still love him. And I've seen how much you love him. You love him more than enough for the two of you, and even if what you're saying were true, which I have a hard time believing, you'll win his love back."

Asuna looked at her, and laughed. "You're right," she said. "I do still love him… I'm working on that thought. Maybe once I stop loving him, he'll notice, and he'll change his mind…"

Sinon stared at her. "Yep, you've lost it. Come on…" She pulled Asuna's arm, and started tugging at her. "We have to go. We'll deal with your romance problems along the way."

Asuna wouldn't go at first, but slowly stood up, and stumbled in the direction Sinon pulled her in. "Sinon," she said with a giggle. "If you mean that you'll help me, like, in a personal way... All I can say is I've never tried it with a girl before, but I've always sort of wondered."

Sinon stopped and her face went beet red for a moment. She shook her head and then sighed. "If I say that is what I mean, then will you come with me?"

Asuna giggled and nodded. She was more just drunk than anything then, so she went along with it despite knowing Sinon wasn't serious. She wasn't even sure if she was serious, herself. "Alright then," Sinon said. "Let's pretend I'm serious, and go out to the town center to meet everyone else, so we can teleport to the Temple of Gaea."

"Oh," Asuna said with a blush. "We can use my suite there. Good thinking…"

When they reached the courtyard, the rest of the group was waiting on them. Asuna was swaying and seemed a little too happy. "Kirito!" she shouted as they approached. She ran to him and hugged him tightly. "Sinon and I are getting married," she said with half of a straight face. "And we're spending the honeymoon in our Temple suite. I hope you don't mind."

Kirito flushed, and patted her back. "Alright, honey," he said. "You girls have fun." He looked to Sinon, who shrugged and rolled her eyes, and chuckled a little at her.

"Well, Asuna seems to know how to party," Eulsam said. "I strongly advise you don't honeymoon in Vegas." In a flash of light, the group was teleported to the Temple of Gaea, in the courtyard, where the Oracle and a somewhat familiar wizard awaited them.

"Hey," Eulsam said looking at him. "It's… it's the guy from Tartarus!"

"MerWizOne," Leafa read his gamer tag. "What are you doing here?"

"The wizard has some disturbing news regarding the situation with Smuldur," the Oracle said.

"What disturbing news?" Kirito asked.

* * *

><p>The group met in the altar of earth, where Gaea sat upon her throne. "The Sands of Time," the wizard said. "A legendary item drop I looted from Cronus back in Tartarus. I intended to keep them safe from any evil who would use them for foul purposes. But I failed. Smuldur… the dragon stole them from me. I was powerless to stop him, and so, to save my own life and bring you this news, I left them for him to take and fled."<p>

"You ran away," Kirito said. "Instead of protecting them."

"If I had not, you would not know what you do now, and the dragon would have taken them from my dead body anyways."

"With the Sands of Time," the Oracle said. "Smuldur could create a brood of powerful dragons in a matter of weeks."

"A brood?" Sampson asked.

The Oracle nodded. "We know now of the dragon's plans. He has taken a queen, and though she is just a mere player for the moment, she will—" Kirito whispered to the Oracle for a moment, and she blinked. "Oh," she said, looking to Sampson. "I… apologize for your loss. I don't mean to be blunt."

"I would rather know…" Sampson said.

"Lisbeth," the Oracle looked to Kirito, and he nodded. "Dragons can of course breed with each other, but as the last surviving dragon in this world, Smuldur must take a different route. Normal humans, in other words, players, can be subjected to a dragon's magic should they match a series of qualifications. With Lisbeth, this is the case. Her digital avatar will be slightly altered, mostly in terms of stats, and she will be able to bear the dragon's young. It's not just stats and numbers though. If the lore we have is true, then her mind will as well be altered, to become more accepting… even loving of her dragon mate, and the young that hatch as a result. This process is said to take several years. And the time it takes for dragons to grow is measured in the hundreds of years."

"But," the wizard said. "With the sands of time, we're looking at the game's first player boss transforming overnight, and an army of dragons in a couple of weeks."

"An army?" Kirito asked.

"Yes," Gaea spoke up. "The dragon Smuldur seeks to rekindle the flames of life for his species, and it's worse than that. A dragon's young, until living a thousand years, are bound by great magic to serve their parents. That is a reason why Lisbeth must be transformed into the Dragon Queen. Should she oppose Smuldur, half of the new brood of dragons would obey her, instead."

"Is there a way to free her from this magic?" Sampson asked. "That is all I seek to do…"

"I know a spell," the wizard said. "It isolates the mind of a player, separating it from its body temporarily. Normally this renders the body vulnerable, and powerless to defend itself. It also however has the added effect of eliminating any will related effects. It should work on her, considering she is a player."

"This is crazy," Kirito said. "A player boss?"

"I imagine Laughing Coffin's world has a lot of things like that," Agil said. "The way they enjoy player killing, it would make sense that their greatest bosses were always meant to be other players if not themselves."

"Do we know where the dragon is building its nest?" the wizard asked.

"Yes," Sampson said. He pulled up a map, and showed a marker he had set on it in the far north. "Liz's last known location before her friends list was dumped."

"Then we have our heading," Sinon said. "Should we bother calling Rexem? Or just do this one ourselves?"

"I don't want his help," Eulsam said.

"What are you talking about?" the wizard spoke again. "Whatever qualms you may have with another group, forget them. If they are geared to fight dragons… you will need all the help you can get."

* * *

><p>"We have a heading," Rexem said to his group. They were back in the Ruins of Al'Kur, grinding demons that inhabited the zone.<p>

"A heading?" Azrealda asked. "A heading to wear?"

"To a big scary dragon… Kirito was kind enough to tell us where to go to find it. The nearest town is called Iceberg."

"So we'll meet him there?" Hael asked.

Rexem laughed at that and shook his head. "They're all the way back at the temple, and they can't teleport to a place they've never been. I say we go there and rally up an army of players as cannon fodder, and beat them too it."

"Sounds good to me," Azrealda said. She mounted her pegasus, and the rest followed. They flew northwest, towards a vast mountain range on the horizon.


	22. Chapter 22: Dungeons and Dragons

The Northern Mountains was the largest zone discovered by players to date. The northern and eastern ends of its vast expanses had never been reached, and the difficult terrain climate and high level monsters made it a more-than-challenging and all-too-unappealing region to cross through, much less spend time leveling in. That was of course until recently. High level players began traveling towards the region in response to a combination of distress calls and wondrous monster sightings—dragons. And not just the great Smuldur, but hundreds of younger dragons that attacked players and towns that were too close to the new nest. A brand new dungeon was born into the world: The Dragon's Nest.

The snow flurried around Iceberg as Kirito and his group arrived. The cold weather injured their rather delicate pegasi, and they were forced to dismount before arriving in town, and this delayed their journey several days. They had to travel by foot through the tundra, and they took out old gear and stacked it on themselves as much as they could to stay warm. The sight of the town was a blessing, and they rushed into the inn the moment they arrived, to warm up.

"We need a room," Kirito said to the inn keeper. "Make it two rooms." He looked back again, counting the size of his party. "What will it cost us?"

"We only have one room available," the woman said. "Everything's all taken by the influx of players. We've got more under construction, but the cold is slowing us down dramatically."

"Then we'll take it…"

"That will be ten thousand coins…"

Kirito blinked, and looked at her. "Ten thousand? You can't be serious."

"There are players coming in from all over, and they all have lots of money because they're all high level. Only the wealthiest can afford rooms here. There are many sleeping in the town halls and in self-constructed shacks. Many I hear are holed up in caves nearby."

"Well," Kirito said. "Would it do us any good to say that we're here to slay the dragon, Smuldur, who terrorized players in Newberg?"

The woman behind the counter pointed to the players sitting around the lobby. "So are they," she said. "Ever since the dragons came, players have been coming from all over with dreams of being heroes. They've been able to kill a few of the smaller ones, but I haven't heard of any survival stories about fights against the big ones."

"That's impossible," Kirito said. He pulled out his two swords, and held them out. "You can't cut through a dragon's scales without legendary weapons, or Silver Steel like what we have." The innkeeper was taken aback by the blades. She seemed to know what metal they were made from.

The crowd in the inn seemed to notice as well. A few of them got up, and one of them drew a weapon. "You're with those raiders!" he shouted. "You're not welcome here. None of you! Get out!" As he spoke, a few more players also drew their weapons.

"Raiders?" Silica asked.

"Raiders of Argus," Klein said. "They were here? They were supposed to meet us. What happened to them?"

"They rounded up an army of players," the same person spoke. "I was with them. They said we were all going to slay the great dragon at the end of the Dragon's Nest, but as soon as we reached the first bosses, they left us to fend for ourselves, and our weapons were useless against them!" He held his hefty axe towards Kirito. "They brought us in there to keep the bosses busy, and nearly two hundred of us died!"

Kirito blinked, and sheathed his blades. "We didn't know that," he said. He waved his hands and shook his head. "No… to tell you the truth, we weren't even very great friends with them. They worked with us to get the weapons, and in the first fight against the dragon, but we lost and they were… unfriendly afterwards, so we split up."

"We planned on meeting them for the final battle once we found where the dragon fled," Leafa said. "We definitely weren't planning on using players as human shields."

"Wait a minute," Asuna said. She had realized something. "You said you had luck killing the smaller dragons. How is that possible?"

The man with the axe lowered his weapon. He still didn't trust the group. "You're right about their scales. We saw the same metal in the hands of that other group. They could pierce the scales of those dragons, but nothing else could. But it's possible to deal enough crushing type damage to hurt the beasts beneath their flesh… if they're small enough."

"That makes sense," Kirito said. "No one could hurt Smuldur without Silver Steel because he was so huge, so dealing other types of damage against him was useless."

"If that other group was supposed to meet you here," another player in the room asked. "Then why did they rush on ahead without you? They never mentioned you."

Eulsam sighed and shook his head. "Knowing them… they probably wanted to beat us to it. Where are they now?"

"As far as we can tell, they're dead. They never made it out of the dungeon. How did you come about those weapons… the metal type Silver Steel?"

"It was a part of a quest," Asuna said. "From Mother Earth herself. It was a long chain, but we found where it can be harvested. It's a four to five week journey there, and you'll need flying mounts to reach it."

"Like the pegasi that other group had," the man with the axe spoke again.

"You saw their pegasi?" Kirito said. "Ours were taking severe weather damage, and so we finished the journey on foot."

"Aye," the man said again. "We should have noticed something off about them. They didn't seem to care, and their pegasi died on the trip to the dungeon."

"After all the hard effort it took to tame them," Silica said. "What a shame…"

"Where is the dungeon?" Sampson asked.

"The Dragon's Nest is about a day's journey by foot from here. We marched a pretty clear path to it on our first run. You'll know you're there when you run into the mass grave… You shouldn't go though. Even with your weapons, its suicide. We don't have any intel on it. And since it opens with a boss battle, that can only mean it's an epic dungeon with more bosses inside, including Smuldur. A big enough player party could beat it, but only if we had Silver Steel."

"We don't have enough time," Sampson said. "We would arm you, but we have to clear the dungeon as soon as possible."

"The dragon is using a captured player to bring his species back to life," the wizard said, "There are a lot of dragons now, and most are much weaker… but a few weeks from now there will be ten times that number, and many of them will be huge."

"A captured player?"

"Yes," Sampson said. "My fiancé."

"I have a spell that can release her from whatever spells are placed upon her by Smuldur. But until I perform them, she is the second-to-last boss in the dungeon… The Dragon Queen."

"The number of dragon attacks has been steadily increasing since it began," the same player with the axe continued. "But I don't know what we can do. We've been hoping to gain enough experience from fighting the smaller ones to learn how to kill the big ones..."

"If you can put us up for the night," Kirito said. "We can form a new raid party to enter the dungeon tomorrow. We don't plan on using players the way our predecessors did, and we are going to warn you, what lies ahead will try you to your utmost. We'll only be accepting players who can provide tactical support, and we are especially in need of healers to counter the massive amounts of damage these monsters can put out."

"And what about the rest of us? We have to sit back and watch you take the spoils of the dungeon? There's going to be a whole lot of them, and even though we wouldn't stand a chance against the larger ones, we can help control the smaller mobs."

"Hmm," Kirito thought about it. "I don't know… It's just not safe."

"We should take their help if they are willing to offer it," Michiko said. "As long as they know what they're getting into."

"As we have fought," another player stood up. He was a magic user. "We have noticed ways to fight the dragons with magic as well. Water sorcerers can drown the smaller ones with a little bit of finesse. Various magic abilities, while not dealing damage, can push them back to keep them from swarming in too large of groups."

"Then we'll take all who are willing," Eulsam said. "As the head of the Protector's guild, and veteran of Tartarus, we have faced many challenges. In all cases, we have strived to keep as many players alive as possible, and our margin of safety has been high. This dungeon will change that. If you join us in this fight, you stand a good chance of never coming out alive. To all those who do not fear death, and are willing to die for the good of all players on Vearth, let them fight."

"Spread the word, if you would be so kind," Michiko said.

The player with the axe nodded, and called his group up to go out into the town. "We should meet in the town hall tomorrow morning to discuss strategies."

"We'll see you there," Kirito said before turning to the innkeeper. "Now… that room."

"The price hasn't changed! Ten thousand!"

Kirito sighed, and paid the woman. The group then went off to get a good night's rest in preparation for the great raid on the Dragon's Nest.

* * *

><p>The frosty path that led up to the Dragon's Nest was wide, and the end of it was littered with the bones of players. As they marched, the group stopped at the entrance of a huge cave. They had rested very shortly before arriving at the entrance, as the first boss would not wait for players to engage or enter before attacking.<p>

A loud screech sounded out through the mountains, and from the sky, one of a pair of huge dragons flew down to meet the players in the huge field of red snow and ice. As it roared once more, its vital information appeared around it. Its name was Wrath, and its twin in the skies was Ruin.

"Asuna," Kirito said. "Lead the way."

Asuna nodded, and activated her Valkyrie state. Her shield and spear seemed to glow, and expanded in size. Above her head a halo of light appeared and behind her back, a pair of unmoving wings of light. She ran towards the dragon, Wrath, and her spear crackled with lightning. The bolts of lightning struck at the ground nearby, and she stopped in her charge to hurl the legendary weapon at Wrath. She hit dead on, plunging the spear into the monster's chest, and dealt about forty percent of its health in damage in that first attack.

The dragon roared out in pain, and flew up into the air. Its twin, Ruin, came down to replace it, landing behind Asuna, who stood a considerable distance ahead of the group now. "Get ready!" a player shouted, it was the same player from the inn, who wielded a large axe. His tag read his in-game name: Stomper. "Now Wrath will attack from the sky while Ruin attacks from the ground."

"Shields ready!" Leafa shouted. While the mage classes prepared their defenses, Asuna engaged the head of Ruin. She blocked and deflected many attacks with her shield, and used her sword to strike quickly here and there between the dragon's swipes and lunges.

Ruin's tail swept from side to side at the other players, forcing them to spread out a little wide, but after they did, they formed up into three groups. The group to the left side of Ruin was the backup group. They were composed of mostly melee attackers, and not a single one of them wielded Silver Steel. They would serve as bait and distraction for the larger dragons, and engage any smaller adds that joined the fight. After they clumped up, they charged to the far edge of the battlefield, and two archers among them shot arrows at Wrath in the sky. The arrows hit, but dealt no damage. No other player attacked Wrath then, so that her focus was set to that group.

The group to the right was the main assault group. They were Kirito, Eulsam and the rest of that group who all had Silver Steel. While the backup group engaged Wrath, they came in on Ruin's side, and attacked there.

Finally, the group that formed at the far back was the caster group. They included Leafa, the wizard, and others who had a dual focus on shielding the backup group, and healing Asuna. Normally, Asuna would be much too far away to be healed, but with Kirito and her wearing the necklace, they could target Kirito for all of their healing spells.

Wrath dove down from the sky, sweeping across the field and unleashing a flurry of dragon fire on the backup group. As planned, a pair of shields were thrown up in their defense, which completely mitigated the damage. Sinon watched the attack take place from the primary attack group, and made a break for the backup group, going to join them.

"Sinon!" Eulsam shouted, trying to get her to explain her plan.

"I saw an opening!" she shouted back. Once she got to the other side, after dodging the dragon's footsteps, she rolled into position among the group, and readied an arrow. When Wrath came for a second attack from the other side, she let it loose, and then activated he ability, getting her three more shots in rapid succession. All of them hit their mark, and she knocked the dragon's health down to nearly fifty percent.

"Eulsam!" Asuna shouted. "We need to deal more damage to Ruin! We need them to switch again so I can retrieve my spear!"

Eulsam nodded, and looked around, trying to come up with a better plan of attack. "Silica!" he shouted. Use a rope so we can get on top of it!"

Silica nodded, and pulled out a lasso from her inventory. Once retrieved, she threw it at Ruin's head, and it landed on a horn, getting a nice good hold. Then, she began to climb the rope, and Eulsam ran to join her. Once the two of them were on top of the monster, they started making easy hits against its backs, and the damage started going up.

Ruin started to raise its wings, and it was going to take off. Wrath was already heading down to replace her. Eulsam and Silica jumped off at the last second. The wind from the takeoff knocked the assault group back and away. They had to take a moment to get up, but when they did, Asuna was quick to engage Wrath. She jumped at her, and gripped the spear that was lodged in its chest. She pulled it out, and use it to continue her assault.

"Incoming!" Xaela shouted, and turned to rush towards the cave entrance as a few dozen smaller dragons flew out to meet the party. Both she, Klein, and the backup group rushed to the entrance. Asuna took a run for it, leading Wrath to where the backup group was leaving.

They engaged the adds. The backup group wielded almost exclusively big, two-handed weapons that dealt crushing damage to knock back and hurt the smaller dragons. Xaela and Klein did their best to score killing blows for their bonuses.

Just before Asuna's Valkyrie ended, she managed to get another massive attack on Wrath with her lightning spear, dealing another critical hit. Silica saw that Wrath was about to take off again, and ran towards Sinon. "Sinon!" she shouted as she tossed her a rope. "Shoot it!" Sinon reacted quickly, and tied a rope to her next arrow. She fired away, and hit Wrath's back. Silica gripped the end of the rope tightly as it took off. When it went into the air, she was flung onto the dragon's back, and used her daggers to make several furious slashes while it was mid-air. The attacks kept Wrath busy with her, and while on her back, Silica was a difficult target to hit or shake off. Her skills and abilities as a beast master helped her stay on.

Now free from worry of being attacked by Wrath, the backup group could continue to fight the adds undistracted by the necessities of dodging the massive damage attacks by the boss. Xaela's Blood Bath built up more and more, and once she reached her maximum number of stacks, she charged to Ruin, and charged in front of Asuna to attack its chest, scoring a flurry of critical this and ending the phase.

Ruin took off again, and everyone was blown back. Xaela's Blood Bath ended before she could get up and return to the adds, which continued to pour from the cave. She had to start from scratch. Wrath landed, and Silica with her. She stayed on its back, continuing to deal damage, and Wrath thrashed about on the ground, dealing wild blows to the players trying to attack.

"Sampson!" Asuna said. "You're up!"

Sampson nodded, and went into his rage ability, transforming into the hulking minotaur. He drew his second axe, and attacked Wrath, quickly getting its attention. As he swung his axes, he knew where to aim now, and swung wildly against the chest through the dragon's attacks. Finally, Wrath hissed out as her life came to an end, and she collapsed into the ground.

Ruin roared out in anger over her twin sister's death, and dived down at the group. As she dove, she opened her mouth and let a rain of fireballs come down on the crowd of players. "Look out!" someone shouted. They were too far spread out, and the casters could not shield them all. Five of them were hit, and died shortly after as they screamed in pain from the flames consuming their flesh.

Sampson's rage wore off, and he returned to a single weapon. When Ruin landed, it slammed into the ground with great force, knocking players down. Then, it reared its head ready to unleash a blast of fire on the players at the entrance of the cave. A caster in the group who was a water sorcerer acted quickly, and conjured a jet stream to hit the dragon's mouth. It flood it out, and stopped the fire from burning.

Ruin then turned to the caster, but was quickly pulled back to focusing on Asuna as she struck it hard with her spear. She ran across the battlefield once more, keeping the boss away from the players. With her head, Ruin snapped down at Asuna, dealing major blows here and there. The healers had trouble keeping up, and Kirito ran back from the fight to keep from getting hit himself. Leafa used a different spell then, one she learned from Sarah and Matt, the white mages in Rexem's party. A flash of light blasted on Ruin's eyes, blinding her and keeping her from hitting her mark.

Kirito made a B line for Ruin's front, and once there, he turned to attack the dragon, hitting its chest and scoring a few critical hits through his combos. Asuna joined in shortly after, with her much faster single sword attack, and together, they dealt the fatal blow to the monster. Ruin's death must have sent a morale shockwave through the smaller dragons, because they fled the fight and flew off into the air.

The group was able to rest, and convene before going further. "How many did we lose?" Eulsam asked.

"Five," Stomper said. "Five more to add to the mass grave."

"Don't think we don't take that loss lightly," Kirito said. "After what Rexem did, I don't want anyone to think we don't care."

"We know. You told us outright that you didn't expect any one of us to live."

Kirito nodded, but he still didn't like it. He stood up, and looked into the cave. "We can't wait," he said. "If we do, they'll organize their attack… I bet it's a huge surprise that we killed Wrath and Ruin." After a few more seconds, Kirito began to run in. He made sure first though, that healers had full mana, and players who were still with them had full health. Asuna was first after him, and then the rest of the group followed into the darkness below.

* * *

><p>It was not easy making their way to the center of the nest, where their friend, Lisbeth, who had become the Dragon Queen, laid rest. Dragons would attack them throughout their journey into the cavernous depths, and in no small numbers. It was similar to their plight into The Ruins of Al'Kuraz, where the undead attacked in mass throughout their journey. Between them though, they kept the dragons at bay, and made their way into a huge chasm where hundreds if not thousands of dragon eggs remained unhatched.<p>

At the center of the nest lied Lisbeth. She was… changed. Her dress she still wore, but over it she had on mail. And there was more than that as well. She had gained inhuman features, including a pair of dragon wings, a long, red tail, elongated ears, claws and fangs. Her half-opened eyes revealed the white in them was now yellow, and her pupils were changed to that of a reptile's. The player group approached her, and here there were only the youngest dragons who shied away and fled rather than fighting.

"Lisbeth," Sampson said as he headed towards her. Despite his feelings, he walked slowly, cautious of what might come. Lisbeth at this point was meant to be a boss battle, so he would expect to have to fight.

"Start your spell," Kirito said to the Yellow Wizard. MerWizOne nodded, and started casting. As he did thought, the Dragon Queen stirred. A soft breath came from her mouth, and it was smoke.

Slowly, she stood up, and looked at Sampson as he approached. She opened her player inventory, and through it, equipped her shield and sword. "Sampson," she said. "I'm so sorry about what had to happen between us…"

Sampson stopped and looked at her. "Lisbeth, we're getting you out of here."

"You can cancel the rescue mission though. I have a new place in this world, not by your side, but by the dragon king's… Because I knew you before, I will offer you this one chance to survive. Leave this place at once, or I will have to deal with you like I had to deal with the others." She pointed to a group of player corpses at the side of the room. Among them were Matt, Sarah, Hael and Blue.

"You don't have to fight anymore," Sampson said. "Just stay there and everything will be okay."

"Children…" she said. Her eyes flashed yellow, and then yellow eyes lit up all across the room. "Your mother is in danger. Defend me…" At that moment, the sound of a thousand wings flapping and a thousand dragons hissing and squealing sounded off. They charged towards the player group like a swarm of huge bats.

Sampson pulled his weapon and started swinging. Every other player did the same, and they all collapsed around the wizard to defend him, all except for Sampson, who pushed forward toward his beloved. "Liz!" he shouted. "You can fight his control over you!"

"I don't wish to," she said. "If you wish to battle me, then I must kill you." She charged for Sampson, roaring out loudly as she did. A jet stream blasted behind her as her wings flapped to propel her forward. Sampson did not hesitate and swung his axe at her, knowing she would block it with her shield.

Except she didn't. In fact, she had put her shield away, and when the axe touched her, it stopped and nearly bounced off. Her form glowed with a red light, and she swung at him with her sword. The blow knocked Sampson down, and he got up quickly to block the next two swings from the Queen.

Sampson parried one attack and then went to strike again, only to yield the same result. "Impossible," he muttered. He was struck again, this time by Lisbeth's tail, and thrown away from her.

As Sampson got up, Liz held her sword up to the sky, and a flash of flames struck down onto it from the heavens, as if like lightning, and she thrust her sword through the air in his direction. A huge fireball fired from it, and Sampson saw it coming. The head of the attack transformed into something like a flying dragon, and he barely got his axe up in time to block some of the damage. His health dropped down to about ten percent after that.

"Sampson!" Leafa said. As another caster used a knockback spell to blow the whelps away, she jumped from the ring of players and rushed for him. Kirito saw this, and went after her. When Leafa got close, she dove in front of the next attack that Lisbeth was using, taking the damage, and then started to cast a healing spell on Sampson and Herself.

When Lisbeth went to attack again, Kirito used both swords to block the attack, deflecting it away. She was open, and so he struck, thrusting a single weapon at her main arm to try and disable her. When the weapon hit, it dealt no damage. Kirito blinked, and noticed the striking similarities between her and Rexem… particularly when it came to her invulnerability. It was like… exactly like his Paladin mode. "Paladin…"

Lisbeth moved to strike Kirito and he stepped back and out of the way, successive hits were parried away. "Wizard!" Kirito shouted. "Hurry up!"

It was one hell of a spell, and he was almost finished casting it. Lisbeth didn't just attack with her sword, but with her tail, and her wings. It was too much for Kirito to keep up with, and he was flung back. Lisbeth charged him to strike again, but just as she did, her body fell, and she found her mind outside of it, watching the scene.

It took a moment to sink in, but soon she was back in her body. The dragons had all suddenly stopped their attack and fled the cave. Lisbeth looked around, and then collapsed. "Lisbeth!" Sampson shouted, going to her. She was still at one hundred percent health. He picked her up, and started to head for the exit. "I'm taking her out of here," he said. Before he left, he threw his two axes at the party, and they were caught by two different players. "Take these, I won't need them from here on out."

"Teleport him," Eulsam said.

"No!" Sampson said. "Don't waste your mana on it. We'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Michiko asked.

Lisbeth looked over, weakly. She still appeared the same, with all of her dragon modifications. "I'm still their mother," she said. "They won't attack me…" With that, Michiko nodded, and Sampson left.

"Next stop…" Kirito said. "Smuldur."

"I thought that Smuldur would leave players alone without his bride," a player said. "I don't think we can fight him, either. He's too strong."

"You can't," Eulsam said. "You should all leave now. We'll face Smuldur."

"I will join you," Stomper said. He held up Sampson's axe. "After all, I have this!" The player was only able to wield the axe due to him being a much higher level than Sampson, who hadn't leveled since Tartarus.

"Then you're welcome to come."

"You will need me as a healer," another player said. "I will stay with the group. Too many though and we will simply be more targets for the dragon to kill."

The rest agreed, and they all headed out of the dungeon. "Why are we still going after Smuldur?" Stomper asked. "We have accomplished our objective."

"We still need to retrieve the Sands of Time," the wizard said, stepping forward. "He can still use it to artificially age his brood… what's left of it. And once I retrieve it, I'm going to put it some place no one will ever be able to reach it. It's too dangerous to let it fall into the wrong hands. I only wish I had thought to dispose of it sooner."

"Then let's move," Asuna said, heading towards a pathway that seemed to go up out of the nest.

* * *

><p>As Sampson left the cave the way they came in, several dragons were abandoning the nest, fleeing to distant lands. Despite the cold weather, he felt oddly warm. He realized soon that it was coming from Lisbeth. "You're heavy," he said suddenly.<p>

Lisbeth coughed smoke, and wrapped her wings and tail around him. She smiled softly and nodded. "I'm too weak to walk… that spell made me numb."

Sampson nodded, and hoisted her up a little higher, and then he kept on moving through the snow. "Wait," she said as they passed the corpses of the twin dragons. "Stop."

Sampson did so, and looked around. "We had to kill them to get to you."

Lisbeth blinked at their bodies, and nodded slowly. She put her hand on the snout of Ruin, and rubbed it softly. "My oldest… I know you did what you had to… but, is it wrong that I feel sad seeing them dead?"

Sampson shook his head. "Even if every intention about this was evil, I know that you are still their mother. And so… it would be wrong not to, I think." He smiled at her. "That's what love is, is it not?"

"You love me…" she says.

"Yes… and what is love if not understanding?" This left a smile on Lisbeth's face, then then Sampson continued on.

Soon, they came across a small group of players who were engaging a larger dragon. They seemed to be in bad shape, and the dragon was lashing out at them. One player was down, and it was about to unleash its fire breath.

Without warning, Liz rolled out of Sampson's arms. He blinked at her, and she could not stand, but she got to one knee. Her eyes lit up orange, and then so did the dragon's. It stared at her, and then it stopped its attack. The players attacking looked to Sampson and Lisbeth, confused. They decided to count it as good fortune, and didn't continue the hopeless attack.

When the dragon approached, Lisbeth reached up to touch its side. "We can ride," she said to Sampson. Sampson looked in surprise. He didn't question it either, and hoisted Liz up onto the monster's back. He followed, and held on tight around Liz. The dragon took off and flew southwest, towards Newberg.

* * *

><p>The Sands of Time appeared as a huge, endlessly spiraling stream of sand. At the top, the sand emerged from nothing, and at the bottom, it fell into nothing. Around it, time was warped, and if one looked directly into it, they could see it reflecting back that player's past, present and even their future. This was all programming of course, so the future they were seeing, as far as they could tell, was more just a reflection of their own hopes for the future.<p>

The artifact lied in the middle of a huge stone floor atop the next. It was out in the open, on a plateau in the mountains. Players entered this field from one side. On the other side of the sands, Smuldur waited them. He wasn't asleep, but was nonetheless unimpressed by their climb to him. "You have slaughtered my kin," he said. "My children. You have stolen my queen from me. And now you wish to deprive me of this sacred artifact that in days brought my species from the brink of extinction." He spread his huge wings outward, and got up from his spot to approach the players. "I didn't expect you to get this far, much less… to make it through the front door. Your journey ends here, brave heroes. None have slain me in thousands of years. I am destruction incarnate!"

"You're a monster!" Stomper shouted. "Like any other monster… you were made to be defeated by heroes like us."

Eulsam blinked, and looked at Kirito. The two nodded and smirked at Stomper. "That was actually pretty good," Eulsam said. "You should join our group after this…"

"Thanks," he said. "I was thinking of what to say this whole time. I'm glad we got this far."

Smuldur laughed at him, and then the whole group. "Even know, your pride and your ambition lead you straight into your doom. I will kill you, and tomorrow, dragons will rule the earth!" Smuldur began a flying charge at the players. They all ran to either side, around the ring. Asuna did not. She activated Valkyrie, and charged right back at Smuldur, hurling her lightning spear and hitting the monster with a critical blow.

Smuldur missed Asuna as she slid on her knees, ducking beneath him. As he flew by, she held out her hand, and her spear dislodged from Smuldur, and flew back to him. She blinked, looking at it, just as surprised as many of the other players must have been.

"Remember!" Eulsam shouted. "If he knocks you down, get up and run away fast, because that's when he strikes with his flames!" Smuldur circled around the ring, and then flew up, and back down, plowing through a few players who were in his path. They were knocked back, and quickly returned to their feet. They didn't look, and just ran out of a potential attack.

As predicted, Smuldur turned around and let out a stream of flames against the spot where the players had fallen. None were hit, and the dragon stopped, looking around. "Ahh," he said. "I see we're learning."

Everyone charged at him. Asuna threw her spear once more, Sinon fired her triplet of instant shots and Klein used his lightning quick strike. Kirito jumped at him, whirling his blades around to come down with a massive strike against the dragon's backside. After one hit from each player, Smuldur flapped his powerful wings, the gust throwing melee players back in all directions.

Smuldur identified the largest cluster of them, and reared back to blast fire at them. Leafa wised up with her tactics. She didn't shield the players, but instead cast her shield around the dragon's mouth itself. There was an explosion and Smuldur stumbled back a little, taking damage from the recoil of his own attack. He was dazed, and couldn't acquire a new target, as all of the players moved too quickly for him.

The next thing he knew, Asuna was falling over his head with her spear, and driving it into his snout. He roared out and whipped his head around. It flung her off, but she landed on the plateau instead of falling from the mountain. As he reared up, Sinon took her triple shot once more at his wide opened chest, and dealt significant damage. Every other player took the same chance, all scoring critical hits.

Smuldur quickly pulled back, and flied up into the air. He had already been knocked down to eighty-five percent of his health. As the players were off to such a good start, they all received a twenty percent bonus to spirit, simply due to high morale. Smuldur looked at them all. "You whelps…" he said. "You have learned how to fight quickly." He wrapped his wings around himself, and then whipped them out into a full expansion quickly, sending a wave of razor winds at the players. Everyone was hit, and blown back. But with less players, the two healers were able to bring everyone back up, nearly to full health before the dragon moved to his next attack.

Smuldur crashed back down into the ring, shaking the ground, and knocking everyone down again. Asuna charged him as soon as she was up, and slashed at him. Smuldur began using his claws to parry the incoming attacks. But they weren't enough, and the enemies he faced together were too many, but not enough for his biggest attacks to fully terrorize them. He was fought back. In order to change things up, he whipped around with his tail. This knocked everyone to the same spot, and he turned around again.

He reared, and smoke billowed from his mouth. Once again however, the shield wrapped over her muzzle, and he expelled flames directly back into his own lungs. He roared in pain, and trashed about until he rolled from the cliff's edge. The players' spirits rose again. Smuldur returned, and instead of landing, he hovered along the edge of the cliff, circling the ring.

"He's hesitating," Kirito said. "Everyone! Attack!"

As they all charged in, those who had them mounted pegasi. Those who did not took a leap of faith, striking down against the dragon's chest. Many critical hits were scored, and they followed the dragon as he was driven back down to the bottom of the cliffs. He landed with a heavy thud. The crushing force affected him, and his health was lower than ever before, in the yellow zone now, standing at forty percent.

The dragon quickly rolled and thrashed about, getting on his feet. He took for the skies, seeking to obtain the sands of time and flee. The players chased him. Those who were not mounted got picked up by those who were, and they beat him to the top, landing in front of the sands of time before he could reach them. The pegasi were exhausted and weak, so they were dismissed.

Smuldur reared back like he was about to breathe fire, but then stopped as the shield popped over his muzzle. He let the flames build, and once the shield vanished, he blasted the ring. The players scattered, but already on their feet, most of the damage was avoided.

"I have Valkyrie again," Asuna said. She activated it, and charged for Smuldur. When she held her hand out, her spear flew to her, and she leapt for the dragon. She drove it right into his heart. It was a perfect hit, and the spear hit his muscle beneath his flesh. His health drained instantly to zero, and he collapsed to the ground.

The players cheered, and congratulated one another. Sinon shook her head though. "Wait!" she shouted, pointing to the dragon. "It's not over!" No congratulations appeared above the monster. She was right.

Everyone prepared for more combat. Within seconds, the dragon was moving again. He lifted his head up and roared loudly as his health bar returned all the way back to full. He flew back from the player party, and hovered in the air. "This," he said. "Is not over!" He turned and fled the fight, and a huge flight of dragons followed with him. They flew off to some distant land, leaving the sands of time behind.

Now, a congratulations appeared in the air. Sinon smiled, and everyone cheered again. With the battle finished and the dungeon cleared, the wizard claimed the sands of time, and began to activate a teleport spell. Once the portal opened, Leafa stopped him from passing through. "Where are you going?" she asked. "We plan to celebrate back in Iceberg."

The old man shook his head. "I am much too old for parties," he said. "And besides, I must see to it that this artifact never sees the light of day again."

"Suit yourself, grandpa," Stomper said. "We'll send you some leftover party favors." The wizard laughed and then walked through his portal. It vanished behind him. Everyone returned to Iceberg.

* * *

><p>Asuna beat the others back into town, and mixed in with the crowd that started to celebrate upon the group's return. They knew what it meant, especially based on the mood of those returning. The rest of the players came in shortly after, and excitement filled the air.<p>

"Kirito," Leafa said to the Black Swordsman once they had arrived. "You have a promise to keep. Don't forget."

Kirito nodded. "I haven't forgotten, but…"

Leafa rolled her eyes. "What now?"

"One wedding at a time," he said. "Okay?"

Leafa blinked. She nodded slowly. "I almost forgot. Sampson and Lisbeth never got to finish their ceremony. I still think—"

Kirito shook his head. "It's impolite, don't you think, to try and upstage someone else's wedding?"

Leafa giggled and nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I suppose you're right. Wait a little bit. But next time I tell you to do it, I expect you to do it. And no blaming your nerves either!"

Kirito held up his hands defensively, and shook his head. "It's not nerves, really!"

"Yeah… sure."

Asuna had found her way into the town's inn, where she saw a familiar face sitting in a corner, watching everything. He seemed so disappointed in the whole thing. Asuna sat down next to him. "Rexem," she said. "What's your problem?"

"I lost four members of my guild…" he said. "People have died, and they're celebrating." He had a drink in hand, and took a big gulp from it. "It's sick."

"Are you sure you're not just mad because you didn't get all of the glory?" Asuna asked. "And what about all those other players you left to die? I'm shocked you were brave enough to show your face in this town at all after that."

Rexem laughed at her. "What will they do? Fight me? They wouldn't stand a chance…"

"You don't feel bad at all for that?"

Rexem shook his head. "Soldiers die in the line of duty all the time. It's no different than that." He spotted Sinon as she walked into the inn. She appeared to be looking for Asuna again. "Hey, it's your wonderful friend, Sinon," he said. He pointed her out. "You should go party it up with her instead of me, since you dislike me so much."

Asuna pulled a second drink from the table, and took a big drink from it. She shook her head. "I pretended that you drove the biggest wedge between Kirito and me," she said. "But that's not true at all. There was something wrong between us longer than you've been around."

Rexem blinked at her, and rolled his eyes. "Oh, lay it on me, Asuna. You know I don't care about you and your high school sweetheart. Why did that even come up?"

Asuna moved a little, to hide from Sinon. "Sinon is trying to get me to go back and hang out with Kirito and my other friends," she said. "But I…" She sighed, and lowered her head. "I don't want to be with any of them right now."

"Why, little girl, are you confiding in me, your boyfriend's arch rival?" he asked.

"You're scum," she said. "You're borderline evil, and I think you're only a hair away from being a player killer. But… you're brutally honest. I think that's a quality Kirito's really lacking right now."

"Well don't that just make me feel all tingly?" He rolled his eyes at her and took another drink. "So you want me to be brutally honest with you about something, don't you?"

She nodded. "My friends keep telling me to keep loving Kirito. To trust him. But I think he might not love me anymore. I've never been in any other serious relationship before, so I can't tell if I'm being paranoid or not."

"If you're asking if Kirito loves you are not," Rex said. He sighed and nodded. "Of course he does. Don't be ridiculous."

"Really?" she asked. She nodded slowly. "I guess if my enemy and my friends are both saying so, I have to believe it."

"You're not paranoid though."

Asuna blinked, and looked at him. She took another drink. "I don't… what do you mean by that?"

"Kirito is… like me, on a fundamental level. He's overly modest and so it's well hidden. But deep down, he loves the fame, and the glory of being the hero of SAO. He loves being the one they brought back to life, the one who helped slay the dragon. He is capable of cruelty, however, as everyone is. Right now… I think he's afraid of you in some way."

"I am still not following you…"

"He led your group before, he still does. But his fame is waning as yours grows. It was you who brought him back. It was you who no doubt championed the fight against the dragon. You now out-level him by more than ten levels, and you continue to stay that way. You got the Valkyrie ability. One of only two class abilities that deal divine type damage."

"What is the other one?" she asked.

Rexem smirked at her. "You're looking at it!" he said. "How do you know Sinon is looking for you to bring you back to the group?"

Asuna shrugged. "Kirito keeps sending her after me…"

"Always here?" Rexem asked. After she nodded, Rexem pulled another drink from his inventory, and slid it over to her. "You're going to be wanting something a little stronger for this."

Asuna drank the new drink slowly, just a few sips before asking, "Why?"

"This is what the legal world calls… mere speculation. I have no real evidence, only a hunch. But I think your boyfriend is cheating on you."

Asuna blinked, and seemed surprised. She didn't believe that. "No way," she said. "Kirito has actual honor. A quality you might not fully grasp."

"I remember seeing Sinon and Kirito fight together in Gun Gale Online… they seemed close then, and I thought they might have been lesbian lovers. I of course, like many, thought Kirito was a girl then, but that's beside the point. It's always her looking for you. Why would Kirito trust her above all others to find you?"

"That doesn't make any sense," Asuna said, looking down at her drink. "You're lying…"

"A little tip from someone more experienced in the world of relationships," Rexem said. "Never trust your heart over your gut. What does your gut say, Asuna?" Asuna shook her head. She took another drink. "Where did she go?" Rexem asked. "Sinon has left. You're nowhere in sight. It's a good chance for a few minutes with Kirito." Through Rexem's eyes only, a small hidden buff had appeared next to Asuna's vitals.

"You're…" Asuna opened her map, and located Kirito and Sinon. The two of them were just outside of town, together…

Outside of the walls of Iceberg, Kirito and Sinon were sitting together. But the context, of course, was much different. Kirito was expressing a concern for Asuna, who was always running off ever since they got back to the game and left their vacation. Sinon was merely doing her best to try and comfort him.

"You're right," Asuna said, looking at the map. She put it away, and drank the rest of her drunk in one gulp. She crossed her arms, and slammed the cup down. She groaned and curled up in her seat. "I can't believe him," she muttered.

"Well don't jump to conclusions," Rexem said. "Like I said… mere suspicion. Why can't your friends find you?"

"I turned character tracking off when I decided to go ahead into town," she said. "I did it before too, back when I disappeared from the first fight against Smuldur."

"But why?"

"I just don't want to be found right now."

"I see…"

"What should I do about Kirito?" She leaned against the paladin, feeling a little tired now. The effects from before had stacked when she finished the drink.

Rexem smirked. "The way I see it," he said. "You have three options. First: you can be honest with him about your suspicions, and tell him you don't trust him. Second: you can forsake your love for him, and break up. Finally… you can take revenge."

"Revenge?" Asuna asked.

"He gets with another girl," Rexem said. "You find yourself a guy on the side to even the score."

"Sounds evil," she said. "Not my style…"

"It's like me," Rexem said. "Borderline… You should try it some time."

"I think I will," Asuna said.

* * *

><p>About an hour later, Asuna left the inn, halfway sober, and went to find her friends again. The party had started to settle down. Sinon went looking for her again, and saw her as she was leaving. She went to get her attention, but was stopped by Rexem as he left the end. "Sinon!" he said to her, catching her attention.<p>

Sinon glared at him. "What do you want?" she asked.

"I just wanted you to tell Kirito something for me," he said.

"What?" Sinon asked him. She was suspicious about whatever message it was. She expected something passive-aggressive or perhaps even a flat out threat.

"Just let him know," Rexem said with an evil smirk. "My debt with Asuna is cleared. Your group no longer needs to worry about running into me again."

Sinon gasped. She remembered back to what Rexem had said to them in Newberg. "What… what did you do?" she asked.

Rexem shrugged, and walked away. Was he trying to get into her head? Sinon ran for Asuna, and grabbed her shoulder. "Asuna-san!" she said. "Are you okay?"

Asuna looked back at her. She seemed a little choked up, but instead of saying anything, turned back to keep going on her way, giving Sinon a disrespectful humph. She walked on, leaving Asuna sorely confused, and found Kirito in a nearby group of players. They were sharing the story of their adventure with some of the townsfolk.

Without thinking about it, Asuna walked into the crowd, and interrupted the story by pulling Kirito to her and giving him a passionate kiss. He didn't do much back at first, but slowly he responded, holding Asuna in his arms as many of the players around reacted with a mixture of chuckles and drawn out "awes."

Seeing this, Sinon was even more confused. She blinked and shook her head slowly. She looked back to see where Rexem went, but couldn't see him. Whatever happened, it must not have been too horrible, she thought. Maybe whatever she imagined had happened was just her imagination, but still something… was off about this whole thing, and it left her with a bad taste in her mouth.


	23. Chapter 23: Love's Labors Won

Sampson and Lisbeth were of course the first to arrive though, several days before the others who had to travel out of the mountains to ride their pegasi to the city. When Sampson and Lisbeth rode in on a dragon, there was a moment of fear and panic among the players in Newberg.

They landed in the central courtyard of the town, and players there drew arms, ready to fight. They all sighed in relief though, as Sampson hopped from the dragon's back, followed shortly after by Lisbeth. The player sheathed their weapons, and a couple of them moved up to greet the two. Once they were finished, the dragon they rode in on roared, and flew up into the air, leaving the town.

"Should we be worried about that?" Sampson asked as he watched it fly away.

Lisbeth shook her head. "I told her to fly to Eastown," she said. "I figure I'll meet up with her there if I need her again."

"Are they all female?" Sampson asked curiously.

Lisbeth shook her head. "They were produced with repopulation in mind, though. Most of them are female, about ninety-five percent, but not all of them." Lisbeth stretched as she walked through the town. When she did, her large wings and tail also stretched out, before shrinking down in size and merging into her back, and along her leg. They appeared now as tattoos.

"Lisbeth," Sampson said, watching her. "Can you… fly?"

Lisbeth smirked, and nodded to him. "I can fly," she said. She held up her right hand, and it lit with fire. "I gained flame sorcerer mastery automatically, and my class was changed to an advanced class."

"Advanced class?" Sampson asked, looking at her. Lisbeth flicked her fingers, and the character display was swiped over to Sampson. He read it aloud. "Level one hundred and two… Dragon Paladin. Special abilities… Paladin Mode, Fist of the Dragon, Divine Fire. Immune to fire attacks, cold and magic resistance… Lisbeth. You're the most powerful player in the game right now."

Lisbeth smiled and nodded. "I bet there will be more soon," she said. "…more advanced classes meant for player bosses. And the bonus ability to control my brood of dragons comes with it all."

"Lisbeth," Sampson said. The two of them had reached their destination, their home on the far southern edge of town. It was untouched by the flames of Smuldur during the attack. He stopped her, and held her hands close to him. "I know what happened, and I can't imagine—"

Lisbeth pulled her hands away and held one open palm up to him. "Just stop there," Lisbeth said. "I'm fine. I mean it. When I was Smuldur's bride, it's like I wasn't myself, like it was some dream and the real me was asleep, waiting to be woken up. I remember everything, but none of it was particularly awful. The magic involved made it all very… unreal. And in some strange way, I think I might have actually enjoyed it…"

"Enjoyed it?"

Lisbeth nodded. "Like I said, it was like a dream. And in that dream I got to be a queen of dragons. The only difference is that I woke up with all these extra powers." She put her hand on him, cupping his cheek, and looked him in the eye. "I don't want you to feel sorry for me, or about what happened. I feel no pain, physical or emotional from this. I just want to get back to our life together, get married, and when we wake up, to move to the US and in with you."

Sampson nodded. "Actually," he said. "I was thinking I was getting bored of the US… that I might rather go to Japan."

"Oh, well. I think I would like that better." Lisbeth chuckled a bit as she pulled her hand away and went inside. "Now… we've got a wedding to plan. We'll schedule it for the day Kirito and the others get back. I wouldn't want them to miss out."

* * *

><p>When Kirito and his group returned more than two weeks later, they were welcomed as heroes. People on the outskirts saw them coming, and rode back in to tell everyone of their arrival. When they entered the city streets, players cheered them on, and flowers were thrown at the hooves of their mounts. When she saw this, Asuna got off of her horse, and walked down the streets ahead of the group, waving to the crowd and giving a greeting and a thanks to those who were closest.<p>

"Look at her," Sinon said to Kirito. "Something changed, but I'm not sure what. She was so miserable for a few days, but now she's enthusiastic and cheerful."

Kirito nodded, and smiled at Sinon. "I'm glad," he said. "I still don't quite understand what got into her, but I'm glad she's better now." As Kirito went on ahead, joining Asuna in greeting the crowd, Sinon walked quietly, thinking about what had happened, and wondering if she should tell Kirito what she saw. If she did, she thought, would it really be helping?

Eulsam, being the unofficial leader of the Kingdom of Newberg, rode ahead of the two of them, to the town's center to make the official announcement, and debrief the players on their mission. Players shook his hand and exchanged high fives as he stepped up onto the wall of a fountain. "Kingdom of Newberg!" he shouted over the cheers. "We have indeed returned victorious! We have good news… but we also have bad news." At that, the crowd quieted a little. "We stormed the Dragon's Nest, and killed a considerable number of dragons. We rescued Lisbeth, who has rejoined the player base. We engaged Smuldur in combat, and obtained the Sands of Time from his lair! Sadly… Smuldur is not dead." The players went silent, and looked up, a worry growing in their expressions. "Smuldur is still out there somewhere," he said, and then shouted louder as he threw his fist through the air. "Running away like a little scared puppy!" The cheering kicked up again. "…and we expect that he'll never come within a hundred miles of our city again! Nor will his dragons!" Eulsam pointed to his group, and waved them all over to him. "Give it up for the dragon slayers!"

After a short while, the group headed into the town's central fortress, where the guards even cheered them once they were inside. It wasn't until they reached the briefing room that they were able to relax in quiet. "Okay," Eulsam said. "We did pretty good, but the dragon was one of many threats. And he is still out there. We need to prepare, so we know what to do if he comes back."

"What was all that out there, then?" Klein asked. "I thought we were still celebrating."

"Morale is important, especially after such a devastating attack like the one Smuldur inflicted on the city." Eulsam sat at the head of the long table, and looked down at the map that was shown across it. Another two members of the Protectors Guild entered the room. "You've got news, I take it?"

"Yes," one of them said. "The most pressing matters first, as always. Our scouts have been looking for more Red-Handed bases… sorry, Order of the Red Hand bases—"

"Let's just keep calling them the RH. It's easier," said Eulsam.

"Alright," the man continued. "They've found three major ones. Another one in the Dune Sea, one in the Northern Mountains, and a third in a zone far to the south, across the sea."

"Across the sea?"

"Yes. There is a fairly large island-continent that way, and it is almost completely under the control of RH. This, we believe, is their new headquarters."

"We definitely don't have the recourses to launch a naval assault," Eulsam said. "I guess we should start setting up a coastal presence and building ships." The second guardsman who entered the room took notes on what Eulsam said. "Moving on… anything more relevant to our whole group here?"

He nodded. "Sampson and Lisbeth have been awaiting your arrival. They are anxious to hold another ceremony, and I was told to tell you that they wish to go through with one immediately upon your arrival."

"Wow," Asuna said. "Those two are persistent. Well, I guess I should start cooking!" She got up from her seat, and headed for the door.

"A wedding sounds like fun right now," Kirito said. "I'm going to go help her." He got up and followed after her, and the rest of Kirito's group all quickly found excuses to leave. Michiko was last out the door, leaving Eulsam and Xaela in the room.

"Well," Xaela said. "I suppose I would like to ask permission to leave, sir?"

Eulsam nodded. "Go ahead. I'll summon my lieutenants and hold a briefing about our defenses."

As Xaela left the room and headed down the hall, Michiko came from the side to talk to her. "Xaela," she said.

Xaela jumped at first, and then shook her head. "What do you want, Michiko?"

"I wanted to apologize," she said. "The last time we talked… outside of combat, the last real time that we talked, I upset you. I didn't mean to do that."

Xaela stopped and sighed. "Michiko…"

"Yes?"

"I…" she shook her head. "N-nevermind. Can we just continue not talking for now? I don't feel like talking about that stuff right now."

Michiko nodded, but as Xaela moved on, she stayed with her. "We can talk about other things…"

"Like what?" Xaela moved a little faster, cutting an unexpected corner.

"Uhh," Michiko struggled to think of something. "Have you… have you tried that restaurant at the west end?"

Xaela shook her head. "No, and I don't really want to." She left the fortress, and headed down the street.

"Okay," Michiko said. She stopped and let Xaela go on without her. "Another time?" she asked. She never got a response, and sighed as Xaela rounded a corner.

* * *

><p>A new wedding ceremony was set up. This one was now much bigger, as players all over the city knew Lisbeth and Sampson's names. The two had become celebrities now, as did Kirito, Asuna and everyone else who fought the dragons. They were no longer just clearing dungeons, but they had established themselves as champions of the players, and defenders of all.<p>

The ceremony trailed off into the night this time, and Sampson and Lisbeth shared their kiss well after the sun had set. When they did, the whole crowd cheered, and Lisbeth deepened that kiss as she flushed with excitement. The ceremony went right on into a grand feast, and many in the town took part. Asuna wasn't the sole chef considering how much needed to be prepared, but she did personally craft the wedding cake, which was only large enough for Sampson and Lisbeth's closest friends.

After the cake was served, the party got into full swing. There was a wide assortment of liquors both copies of drinks in the real world, and drinks that the game had fabricated completely. Sampson and Lisbeth shared a dance, and started it off for everyone.

Eulsam sat to the side and watched for the most part, until a hand was offered to him. When he looked up, he was surprised to see Asuna inviting him to a dance. "What about Kirito?" Eulsam asked her before taking her hand and standing up.

"Kirito is a grown man," she said. "So are you. And I am a grown woman. We can't have a dance as friends?"

Eulsam smirked and nodded to her. "Still, I have to wonder after what I saw the last few days. You've seemed distant, and then suddenly emotional. Everyone's noticed, you know." As they moved towards the mix of dancers and started to move with the beat of the music, Asuna noticed Kirito returning from taking a drink. He was off to the side, and stood as he watched for now. He gave her a smile, and she returned it.

As he stood there, Sinon walked by. There was an exchange of words, and Asuna's smile slowly faded as she watched. "Something wrong?" Eulsam asked, getting her attention back.

Asuna shook her head as she saw Sinon walk away from Kirito, and looked back to Eulsam. "Spin me," she said. Eulsam shrugged, thinking nothing of it, and held his hand up. Asuna twirled below it but when she came back up, she landed her lips to his, just for a brief moment, and then let their fingers slip as she walked away.

Eulsam paused, and stopped, blinking at that. She seemed to leave pretty quickly after that. Was it something unintentional in the heat of the moment or was it intentional. He saw Kirito looking at him with the strangest expression of surprise and confusion on his face. He looked back at him with a similar sense of confusion, and held his hand up in a half-wave before turning and leaving.

"That's rough," Michiko said to Kirito. He jumped a little and turned to her, as she had snuck up on him. "I didn't see it coming…"

"Hi Michiko," he said. "Neither… did I."

"If you want, I can ask her about it," she said. "It might have just been an embarrassing slip up… or alcohol. Or both."

Kirito remembered what Sinon said just a few moments ago. He had asked her if she wanted to dance, and she responded _"I don't think that's a good idea,"_ before walking away. "I… think I should go talk to Sinon," he said before walking away.

Michiko watched him as he started to head away. "Or maybe you should just let it go. That's what I would do."

"I know," Kirito said, looking back and joking with her. "How is that working out for you?" Michiko frowned and tossed the remainder of her drink at him before storming away a little angrily. Kirito jumped back, but still got soaked. "Jeeze, it was a joke." He looked at his drink and sighed. Maybe he should stop now, he thought. He opened his player menu, and sent a message to Sinon: "Sinon, can we talk? You seem to know something…"

* * *

><p>Michiko sat on the ground, back leaning against a wall as the party went on at a distance. She looked down at the ground, and sighed. "He's right," she said to herself. Every time things had gotten tense with her and Xaela, she just stopped talking, and left her alone. Maybe it was time to try a more direct approach, she thought.<p>

As she sat there, a pair of players rode through the streets on horseback. One of them looked down at her, and chuckled a little. "I'll never stop enjoying seeing players like you down in the dumps," he said. After he said it, he poured a drink he had in his inventory out near her. Michiko sprung up and drew her weapon. When she looked up, she was facing Rexem and Azrealda.

"What the hell is your problem, asshole?"

"Oh," Rexem said to Azrealda as they moved on. "Looks like that wasn't a trashcan."

Michiko stepped towards the two of them, weapon drawn. "She seems upset," Azrealda said, looking back without stopping.

"Are you going to fight us, girl?" Rexem asked. "We'll kill you." He dismounted his horse, and drew his hammer alone. "And I'd really hate to ruin the big wedding night with your filthy blood."

Michiko glared at him. He wasn't worth it. She put her weapon away and turned to walk away in the other direction. Rexem and his last surviving guild member both walked in the opposite direction.

Michiko stopped as she heard someone crying. She decided to investigate, and when she rounded a corner she discovered Xaela, sitting on a bench in a secluded part of the city. "Xaela," Michiko said as she approached.

Xaela stifled her tears, and wiped her face. "Leave me alone."

Michiko almost turned to do just that, but then shook her head, and sat down next to her. "I can't do that," she said. "What's wrong?"

"Everything. Now please go away." Xaela scooted to the opposite end of the bench, and turned her head down and away.

"No."

"Why won't you just leave me alone?"

"I already told you," Michiko said. "I love you…"

"Your love is wrong," Xaela said.

"Why is love wrong?"

"You are a woman," Xaela said. "It's immoral… We can't be together. I can't be with you. Stop saying you love me."

Michiko blinked, and looked at her. In her head she was starting to put the pieces together. "The way you dress," she began to say. "The way you avoid me, and don't look at me when we talk. And what you just said. You come from a conservative Christian background, don't you?"

Xaela nodded, and looked over to Michiko. "Yes," she said. "My faith is… important to me."

"If you have your faith though. Why are you crying? Isn't faith supposed to make you happy… or at least hopeful?"

"It's a struggle. I tried so hard to be a good Christian girl, and this game took all of it away from me."

Michiko moved closer to her, and brushed her fingers over her cheek to get her to look up at her. "Listen to me," she said.

Xaela turned away and pushed Michiko's hand off of her. "Don't touch me like that."

"Well at least hear me, then. You know that what you went through… it wasn't your fault. You have to know that, right?"

Xaela shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"How come?"

"Because even though I was forced to do… all of those horrible things with you, that's not what made me a sinner. It was what happened afterwards. I had…" She sighed and looked back down. "I had feelings for you."

"I know," Michiko said. "And you still do, don't you?"

Xaela nodded, and looked back up at her. "I have to stop it. If I don't, I'll be damned. And you too."

"Not to smear your religion," Michiko said, looking at her. "But that's a load of horseshit. I don't know much about Christianity, except that you believe in a single God who loves humanity and hates sin. I don't understand how loving someone can be wrong to a God who is supposed to be built on the principle of love."

"God isn't just some all loving being," Xaela said. "God is the creator of the universe. He is all things that are good, and anything that is against him is evil. He created man and woman to be together, and so to do otherwise is against his will. It's a sin."

Michiko nodded slowly, and then shook her head. "I won't pretend to understand that," she said. "I don't understand why anyone would believe in a deity figure who was opposed to love… not unless you were a psychopath."

"It's not like God is just whatever we want him to be. God is God, and that's how it is. Nothing good can come from our relationship, and so I just want you to go away from me."

"At a certain point," Michiko said, looking down. "I would say that if you really love someone, that you have to accept that they might not love you back, and let them go because that's what's best for them."

Xaela sighed with relief, and nodded. "Thank you."

"But, that's not what's happening here. You said you still had love for me. And besides, at a certain point, if you love someone, I think you also can't let them go. I think that's what I'm learning right now. Because if you let them go, it wouldn't be love, would it?"

Xaela shook her head, and cursed at Michiko, again in French. "No, leave me alone! I don't want to have those feelings anymore!"

"Xaela, do you believe that God loves you?" Xaela nodded slowly. "If God loves you, would he let you go?" Xaela stared at Michiko for a second. It was a rather challenging question. "If God is this all knowing being that the bible says he is, then God would no doubt know what's best for you. And if He loves you, He would want what's best for you too." Xaela nodded again. "Unlike, say for example, myself. I don't know what's best for you… I have a pretty good idea, and a lot of opinions, but I don't actually know for certain."

"What's your point?" Xaela asked.

"Stay with me, here." Michiko thought a little bit about how to continue. "Since God wants what's best for you, and knows what's best for you, and loves you, would he let you go?"

"No," Xaela said. "But that's not a reason to commit sins."

"If that is true, though," Michiko said. "Then why should I let you go?"

"I understand that," Xaela said. "But you don't know what's best for me, you only think you do."

"Does God want you to be alone?" Michiko asked.

"I don't know."

"So you don't know what God wants. You yourself don't know God's will?"

"That's… true."

"If God wanted you alone," Michiko said. "Then would you not be alone? I understand that the God you believe in is all-powerful. What is it you say… that He has a reason for everything?"

"Yes," Xaela said. "I don't know. I feel very alone though. So maybe He does want me alone. There is a reason, I just don't know it yet."

"If, then, God wants you to be alone. Why am I here? It seems your God has left you between a rock and a hard place. Why will your choice be?"

Xaela sniffled. "After Christ died, the apostle Peter had a vision in which Jesus came to him, and told him to eat a variety of unclean meats. He had this vision three times, and each time, Peter refused. On the third time, Jesus asked Peter why he would not do as He had asked. Peter said that these meats were unclean. Jesus replied that if He told Peter to partake in those unclean animals, then shouldn't Peter trust that He had made them clean? This was directly before Peter was met with a non-Hebrew who wished to convert to Christianity."

"So God wanted Peter to accept someone he wasn't supposed to before, and trust that God would… make this person clean?"

Xaela smiled and nodded to Michiko. "Yes," she said. "Exactly. So maybe… God wants me accept you even though I am fearful of sin, and trust that he will steer us both clear."

Michiko sighed and hanged her head down. Then she lifted up and smiled. "Well," she said. "At least we're talking now. Will you tell me why you were so sad earlier?"

"I was lonely," Xaela said, looking away. It wasn't true. She was crying over the broken relationship with her family once again. "But God sent you to me, and now I will send you to God. Oh, sorry, that sounded like a threat. That's not how I meant."

Michiko nodded slowly, a somewhat frightened smile on her face. "Like I said," she said, mostly to herself. "At least we're talking… Xaela, I will hear what you have to say, but only if you promise me one thing."

"What's that?"

"You hear what I have to say, too."

Xaela held out her hand, and the two shook on it. "Deal!" Xaela said before getting up. "Let's go back to the party." Michiko nodded, and the two returned to the dance floor.

* * *

><p>"Okay, Kirito," Sinon said. They met outside of town, where they knew it would be private. If anyone was listening in, Sinon would catch them. "What do you want to know?"<p>

"Everything," Kirito said. "After you said no to that dance, Asuna kisses Eulsam, and he looked just as baffled as I was. Something's going on with her, and I want to know what."

"Here's what I know. Back in Iceberg, right before Asuna went and found you, I saw her leave the inn. She was in a bit of a rush, and I couldn't tell why. Shortly after, I saw Rexem come out. He told me that Asuna's debt was paid, and I suspected the worst. But when I went to talk to Asuna, she only glared at me, and walked away. She's upset at me for something. Based on what you said, I think she suspects me of… cheating with you."

"Me?" Kirito asked. "And you? Really?"

"I think Rexem put that thought in her head, but it seems consistent enough. I didn't want to raise her false suspicions any farther, so I've been trying to avoid talking to you as much as possible. Kirito… what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know," Kirito said. "I don't have any way to prove that I haven't done anything like that. It would be easy to get away with in a world like this one. Maybe there's some magic that will force someone to say the truth."

"Maybe…" Sinon said.

* * *

><p>"What is the kill count at?" GothGod asked, turning to one of his remaining cohorts. They were somewhere in the Dune Sea, and the sun was rising.<p>

"Nine thousand, nine-hundred and ninety-eight." The voices were in whispers as always.

"Then it's time," the Black Prophet said. "We better act quickly."

"We need the ten thousandth, I thought."

"Yes, but don't forget, Kirito was resurrected. The nine thousand, nine-hundred and ninety-ninth dead player will be the ten thousandth kill." GothGod pulled out a dagger, and walked up to a player who had been hooded. GothGod pulled the hood off of him, and smiled down at him. "Rise and shine," he said. "It's show time!"

The player had been mumbling a spell, and when GothGod went to finish him, he cast it, and was suddenly free. The player ran away as fast as he could, and the whole of Death Oath ran after him. "Get him! Quickly! Or someone else will die in his place!"

One of the Death Oath caught him first, and tackled him to the ground. Without thinking, the killer sliced the player's throat, scoring the proper fatal blow and killing his target. "He stole our Prophet's kill," one whisper said. "Kill him!"

That member of their group was suddenly fearful, and turned around, looking around at the approaching group of players. "No! Wait!" GothGod said leaping towards him. "It doesn't matter now." GothGod took off this player's plague mask, and tossed it to the side. "It's fine. He can complete the spell."

The player's name showed. It was Fatalone. GothGod handed him a cup with a potion in it, and he drank. "I do apologize, this was meant for me so I didn't think I would need to warn everyone. But this will hurt…" The player blinked, and then screamed. He got onto his hands and knees, and then held his face as he thrashed about. Blood poured from his eyes, and after about thirty seconds, it was over, and he looked up at the Black Prophet, who smiled back. Fatalone's eyes had changed, to become crystalline and red, like dark rubies. "Tell me," GothGod said. "What do you see?"

Fatalone laughed, and rolled onto his back. He kept laughing until GothGod asked again. "I see," he said. "I see death… everywhere I look. I see every player in the moment they died, and I see every prize for slaying every monster."

"Yes," GothGod said. "Go on… what should we seek next? Focus on the most valuable items. Focus on items that grant knowledge or wisdom or fortune. And tell me… what is it?"

Fatalone pointed into the sky. "When Kirito died, and Eulsam returned to Mother Earth… she offered him an alternative prize. You want knowledge, my Prophet… The Fruit of Knowledge will give that and more. It is what we must seek next! If we slay Mother Earth, she will drop the Fruit of Knowledge, and then we will… you will know all things."

"Excellent…"

"But," Fatalone continued. "I see also a terrible cost of our quest. Mother Earth is no ordinary NPC. And even then, no ordinary sentient NPC. All of the VRMMORPG's in the world are thanks to a single well written program… The Seed. When Laughing Coffin created this game, all of them were merged into one, and that seed sprouted… Mother Earth is no mere AI, she is the embodiment of the foundations of this world itself. If we slay her… everything will come undone. The world will split apart… and all of the empty spaces in the other games will collide with this one. We will turn the fruits of the virtual universe into a wasteland of chaos!"

"I see," GothGod said. "But… we need that fruit. And having all knowledge will be plenty to re-forge the world… only then, it will be our world. Friends! The beginning of our glorious rise to power is upon us! We will go out into the world and seek the artifacts and powers with which we will slay the world itself!"

"One more."

"One more?"

"We should kill one more. And in fifteen days with ten thousand souls… a being to match Gaea in power will be unleashed on the world." GothGod looked to his group, and pointed at the one who initially called for Fatalone to be killed. The rest of them nodded, and took and killed that player.

* * *

><p>"Asuna," Sinon said. She approached her while she was alone in the city of Newberg. The group had yet to leave for more adventures, and it was looking like they would take another break after their last grand quest.<p>

Asuna turned to Sinon and frowned. "What?"

"I figured out why you started hating my guts yesterday."

"Oh you just now figured it out?"

"Come with me," Sinon said. She walked past Asuna and towards a nearby alley. Asuna followed her, merely out of curiosity, and Michiko waited there for her. "Michiko, tell her."

"Right," she said. "Asuna, I have something for you."

"What?" Asuna asked. You two are acting strange.

"Don't talk to us about acting strange," Michiko said. "You need this." She held out a pouch of dust. Asuna took it and looked at Michiko funny. "It's a spell I ripped from a Death Oath hand book. It is a truth-seeker's charm. Inhale a little bit of it, and your mind will clear out, and no one will be able to deceive you."

"How do I know you're not lying to me now?" Asuna asked.

Michiko inhaled a little bit of it and shook her head around. She looked at Asuna. "Try to tell me a false name…"

"My name is Asuna," she said. She blinked, and nodded, taking the powder and doing the same. "Okay, so what's going on?"

"We're here to clear some things up," Sinon said. "You have a burning question you want to ask me, don't you?"

Asuna thought about it for a moment, and looked at Sinon. "Okay… did you sleep with Kirito?"

"Well thanks for coming right out with that," Sinon said. She shook her head. "No…"

"Did you do anything with him?"

"Like what, Asuna?" Sinon asked. "Be specific."

"Have you ever done anything sexual with Kirito?"

"No…"

Asuna blinked, and nodded slowly. "Anything romantic?"

"Aside from a gaze or two back in Gun Gale Online, no."

Asuna seemed a little shocked, and looked at her. She reached out and hugged Sinon tightly. "I'm so sorry!" she said. "I just… I don't know what got into my head—"

"Your turn," Sinon said. "Why were you acting weird before?"

Asuna frowned and hanged her head down. "I overheard a conversation between Leafa and Kirito. I thought I heard him say he didn't love me. Is it true, do you think? Has he stopped loving me?"

"Of course not!" both Sinon and Michiko shouted at her. "Next question," Sinon said. "When did you get into your head that I was with Kirito?"

"Back in Iceberg," Asuna said. "I ran into Rexem… I don't know why I believed him, looking back."

"Did you drink anything?"

"Yes."

"Did he have access to any of those drinks for any period of time?"

Asuna blinked, her eyes widening. She gritted her teeth and nodded. "That bastard…"

"Okay," Sinon said. "Hard question… have you cheated on Kirito in any way?"

Asuna nodded slowly. She then started to cry. "I'm… I thought. I don't know why—Sinon, will you tell Kirito? Michiko, will you?" Both of the girls shook their head no. "Thank you…"

"You should though," Sinon said. "You owe me something for the way you treated me. Tell Kirito, be honest with him. It will help him understand why you were acting that way, and he'll forgive you."

"Why would he?" Asuna looked up at Sinon. "I wouldn't… I already didn't when I thought he did. I'm terrible…"

"Stop that, Asuna. He will forgive you because he loves you. Don't forget it." Sinon took a deep breath, and held Asuna's hands. "So will you tell him?"

Asuna shook her head. "I don't want to… I don't think I can."

"He'll find out eventually…" Sinon said. "You want to get ahead of this. I don't want to have to be the one to break it to him, that's for sure, and he's already decided to look for something like we found here… this truth-seeker's charm."

Asuna nodded slowly. "I understand," she said. "I'll tell him… in my own time, I promise."

"Okay…" Sinon said. "Feeling better though?"

Asuna shook her head. "Can we turn this thing off?"

"I'm afraid not," Michiko said. "But hey, it's good to be honest every now and then, huh?" To that, Asuna laughed a little and nodded. "It'll get better, Asuna…"

"I know." Asuna let out a sigh, and looked to the two of them. "I'm afraid though… Since I started being okay with… with the cheating, I have kind of… I don't know."

"Asuna," Sinon said. "Best time to get it off your chest. What is it?"

"I think I've lost a lot of love for him," she said.

"Well…" Sinon thought for a few moments. "It'll get better, I think. Oh, one more question, were you being serious that time you said you wanted to try things with another girl… like… with me in particular?" Sinon blushed a bit.

Michiko cracked a smile and laughed a little at that question. "Yes, please… do tell."

"Maybe just a little," Asuna said, covering her face. "I was serious about being curious. Were you?"

Sinon nodded. "Yeah, I guess I was. But… that'd be too weird with our friendship and you with Kirito and all. Feeling better yet?" Asuna smiled at her, and nodded. The effects of the charm were wearing off, with just a few seconds left on them. Once they did, they all left and stayed together for the rest of the day.

* * *

><p>Fourteen days passed, and Kirito and the group were enjoying themselves to a group night out, eating and partying. Snow had begun to fall on the city, and in one of the destroyed regions, players had made an artificial pond. As the air froze, so did the water, and the group decided to go ice skating.<p>

At the center of the pond, they had erected a statue of a huge dragon on its back, and Asuna standing over it, with a spear driven into its chest. Lisbeth had joined them, and worked with a town leatherworker to craft ice skates for her close friends. In the real world, none of them knew how to skate, but in the game world, it was a skill like any other, and they quickly got the hang of it.

"This is so much fun!" Asuna shouted as she circled the large statue. They weren't a very high skill quite yet, but they were high enough to avoid falling for the most part. And they were also able to pick up an okay speed, though nothing close to those more experienced skaters.

Kirito sat across from Leafa at a bench off to the side. They wore their skates but were taking a short break to take a drink of a hot beverage. Lisbeth sat down with them, wearing thin clothing, incredibly thin considering the cold weather. "The weather's nice," she said as she sat down.

"How are you not all bundled up?" Kirito asked.

"I'm still part dragon," Lisbeth said with a smile. "I have somewhat of an immunity to the cold weather. And I can breathe fire."

Leafa nodded. "Right," she said. "So we can call you dragon lady now?" Lisbeth flushed and shook her head. "It's a joke, I'm just kidding… dragon lady." Kirito and her snickered.

"Oh well see how helpful I am if we're out in the cold somewhere and you need a campfire!"

"I'm sure you'll be more than helpful," Kirito said. After a few moments, he picked up the conversation again. "I also heard from Sampson that you seem to be able to control the dragons you helped uhh… make."

"Why does everyone have to be so awkward about that?" Lisbeth asked. "Yes… I have some control over them. Though if Smuldur came back, I doubt my will would be enough to beat his."

"It is kind of an awkward topic," said Leafa. "Maybe even more so considering how strangely comfortable you are with it."

Lisbeth smirked, and then shrugged. "When you can potentially control an army of dragons, you don't tend to question things too much."

"I was thinking," Kirito said. "A dragon's scales would retain their high armor rating and immunities even after a dragon's death. We should have grabbed some of those corpses to make lightweight, piercing proof armor."

Lisbeth glared at him. "If I see you wearing any of my babies' skin as armor, I will gut you."

Kirito waved his hands defensively. "No… wouldn't dream of it!" he said. "But… I wouldn't be surprised if high level players started showing up with armor made of dragon scales in the near future." Lisbeth didn't seem to like that prospect. She drank her warm hot chocolate, and tried not to think about it.

Silica sat down at the table with them. "I also thought of something else that would be helpful if we needed to fight them again in the future," she said.

"What's that?" Kirito asked.

"Lisbeth." Silica turned to her friend. "Would you mind if I took a look at your wings? Liz shrugged. She liked showing them off so she had no trouble with unfurling them, and extending one towards Silica. Silica inspected it, and felt the texture of it. Lisbeth blushed a bit, and pulled back. "Sorry, is it sensitive?" Silica asked.

"Yes, and… not appropriate!" Lisbeth said. "Why did you do that?"

"Just checking. It's not covered in scales."

Leafa blinked. "So…"

"If we run into a dragon again, and have to fight it, its wings are as weak as normal flesh. We could easily ground a dragon by attacking its wings." Kirito drank from his cup, and turned to Lisbeth. "We would want to test it on a smaller target first, instead of rushing headlong at a bigger one."

Lisbeth blinked, and merged her wings back into her body again. "You're not testing mine! I need those…"

"You got along fine without them before," Silica said. Lisbeth huffed.

"No," Kirito said. "If you've got the heart for it, and we find a dragon, it would help us a lot…"

Lisbeth shook her head. "Wouldn't dream of it. You'll have to test it in a fight, but I won't subject my dragons to such torture." Silica nodded in agreement, and there was a short silence.

Asuna came over, tugged at Kirito's arm. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "We should be skating together!" Kirito nodded, and got up to go with her. Leafa got up too, and whispered something to him before he left. He nodded back to her as he and Asuna walked towards the ice.

"Oh, Silica," Lisbeth said. "I have something for you." Silica looked to her, and Lisbeth opened her inventory to take out a dragon egg. Silica blinked at her. "I remembered how you had Pina in SAO, so I made this one special, just for you, before my mind went all out of whack, and hid it in my inventory to keep it from aging or even hatching."

"M-made?" Silica looked at her, somewhat disturbed by the implications.

Lisbeth sighed and shook her head. "You all really must stop thinking dirty thoughts whenever you see a dragon. Anyways, it should hatch soon… very soon. Everything about a dragon can be determined by the conditions in which its egg is kept in the periods before it hatches. Elevation, temperature, depth in water, the ground it sits on. For example, if you threw on into a forge, and left it there, it would spawn a fire breathing red dragon. Submerge one somewhere foggy and cold, and you'll get a mist-breather… one that heals with its breath weapon."

"Like Pina!" Silica said, looking at the egg. "Thanks!"

On the ice, Asuna and Kirito skated, when all of the sudden, Kirito pulled Asuna down with him in front of that large statue. He hugged her and let her get up first. While he was down, he fished that ring from his pocket, and held it up to her.

Leafa was watching, and by now, so were many others. Leafa shook her head and laughed. "Kirito!" she shouted. "Say something, idiot!"

Kirito choked up and nodded rapidly. "Asuna!" he said. Asuna turned and looked down at him to see him there, holding a ring up to her. She blushed furiously and shivered. "Yuuki Asuna," he said. He sighed, and caught his breath. "I really wanted to give this to you a long time ago, before we were trapped here. I wish circumstances could have been better, and I was waiting for way too long for the perfect moment to ask you this… but that never came. It may never come. But I still love you, and I still want to be together for the rest of our lives. Asuna… will you marry me?"

Asuna had her hands over her mouth as she looked down at him. With everyone watching, she wasn't sure what she should do. The pressure was on, but something… something was off. She hadn't yet told Kirito about it, and she felt the weight of her guilt start to crush her emotionally. Now, she was left between further dishonesty and embarrassing Kirito in front of the crowd.

"I…" she said. She took Kirito's hand, but not the ring itself, and skated off, dragging him with her. He blinked, and got up, going with her. The crowd was left a little confused as to what it meant, but Asuna and Kirito went off to some place more private.

"Welp," a voice said from the crowd. "Thanks for the interruption. Back to our normal lives." Eulsam heard the voice, and looked over to see his father walking down the street. He turned to see where Kirito and Asuna went, and chose to go follow them, ignoring Rexem. He was more interested to find out if he had somehow caused the issues between the couple.

In an empty room in an inn, Kirito and Asuna sat. Kirito still held the ring in his hand, and by now had figured that it wasn't happening. Asuna sighed, and sat in front of him. "I'm sorry, Kirito," she said. "But I can't. I haven't been totally honest with you… I suspected you of cheating on me—"

"Asuna," Kirito said. "I know. And I haven't, I swear!"

"I know," Asuna said. "I met up with Sinon and we talked about it. But that's not the problem…"

"Then what is it?"

Asuna choked up and leaned forward, crying a little bit. "I did…"

"You did what?"

"I was… unfaithful," Asuna said, looking up at him. "I'm so sorry, but—"

"Asuna," Kiriot said, putting a finger to her lips and silencing her. "I don't care. I still love you, you know that."

"That's not good enough," Asuna said, glancing to the side. "After I did it… I felt something change inside of me. Worse than the shame… I felt a little bit of my love for you weaken, and over time, it faded."

"So… what are you saying then? You… you don't love me anymore?"

Asuna shook her head. "No," she said. "Not at all! Of course I love you, but… not as much, and it got me thinking. Maybe… maybe if I was capable of doing that to you, maybe I don't love you all that much."

"I still don't care about that," Kirito said, taking her hands and holding them close. "If I can get you to fall in love with me once, I can do it again. I have more than enough love for the both of us."

"I don't deserve that, Kirito," Asuna said. "I… I had climbed so high in this world. I became the best, and pulled out everything I had to save you from death. Afterwards, I was suspicious, jealous even. I don't deserve you."

"I still don't care…"

"I think… you deserve better, and that I… we should maybe…"

"Don't say it," Kirito said, starting to choke up. "We have a child waiting for us in the other world. We were close to getting married. Don't say that now."

"I can't go on like this, Kirito." Asuna looked up at him, a more serious expression on her face. "I thought I would have a lot longer to fix our relationship, but I didn't. Now that I've stepped over… that line, I felt something different. A bit of… freedom, in some sense." Kirito looked at her, and shook her head. "If I really love you, I think… I will return to you eventually. And since you really love me, you'll let me come back when I do."

"It doesn't work that way," Kirito said. "If we leave each other… there's no taking that back. Even if we do end up with one another in the end, we'll always have this in our past, we won't forget it, and we won't forget anyone else we may or may not end up with."

"You deserve someone who loves you."

"I deserve someone I love."

Asuna took his hands now, and looked into his eyes. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes…"

"Then believe me now. I need to do this. I need you to do this. If I got married to you know, it just won't be as good. I'll always wonder, what if… what if we're not right for each other. If we both part ways and come back… we'll, no… I'll know for sure that I'm with the right person."

Kirito took his hands away, and looked away. "Fine," he said. "Only because I love you… and I don't want to pressure you into something you don't want. At least tell me this though… who was it?"

Asuna frowned, and spoke the name of the person who had tempted her back in Iceberg. Eulsam had been listening outside of the room, and after hearing that, his heart darkened like it had done only once before. He left the inn, and went back to the frozen pond, where his father and Azrealda were cracking jokes.

Without stopping to think, he drew both of his blades, and held them both out behind his father's head. He was only stopped by Leafa, who performed a quick disarm spell upon seeing him. He wasted no time in retrieving them. By then, Rexem was aware of the boy's presence, and turned around to face Eulsam. Eulsam had a look in his eyes… the kind no human soul lingers behind.

"Eulsam!" Michiko shouted out. "What are you doing?"

Rexem looked at him funny, and Eulsam held both blades up to his throat. "Easy there, boy," his father spoke. Azrealda drew her claymore, and held it up to Eulsam. "You cut me down, and Azzy cuts you. See how that works?"

Eulsam shook his head and shouted at him. "Bastard! Don't try to talk your way out of this!"

"Out of what?" Rexem asked. "You're not making any sense." Eulsam's friends had joined him. Michiko and Leafa were behind him, ready to pull him back. Klein held his blade up to Azrealda. "Mexican standoff… okay."

"Eulsam," Michiko said. "What's wrong?"

Eulsam shook, staring angrily into the eyes of the sociopath at the end of his swords. "This man deserves to die! He destroys families and lives and doesn't give a shit about it!"

"Yeah," Leafa said. "We know he's a bastard, but that doesn't mean we kill him."

"Tell them!" Eulsam shouted. "Tell them how terrible you are!"

"What are you going on about?" Rexem asked.

Eulsam turned to the crowd. "This man, my own father, slept with a girl I knew back in university. He tore apart the relationship I had built… on our wedding night no less, and now… he's done Kirito and Asuna a similar blow."

The group all looked at Rexem, shocked at the accusation. Rexem let out a laugh. "You still sore about that?" he asked. "You really are a pissy one, aren't ya?"

"You slept with the shrimp's girl?" Azrealda asked.

"No, of course not… we didn't get that far."

"I won't let you ruin any more lives… split apart anymore families… or lead anymore players to their deaths! This ends now!" Eulsam moved to strike. Michiko and Leafa pulled him back and Klein slid his blade down to deflect Azrealda's attack.

"Eulsam," Michiko said. "We get it. He's evil… in the highest degree. But we won't let you kill your own father…"

Rexem glanced to Azrealda, and the two mounted up and fled. Eulsam shook his arms free from Michiko and Leafa. His hands shook as he gripped his weapons tightly. After a moment, he dropped his weapons, and dropped to his knees. The group who had seen those events transpire gathered around him, and spoke to him. Leafa however left, going to find Kirito. Sinon as well left, to find Asuna.

* * *

><p>The next morning, as the players met in awkward silence at the top of the fortress in the town's center, they looked across the horizon. A few moments after sunrise they saw something incredible in the east. Something a huge blue flash appeared, and then light shot up like a tower from the ground into the infinity of space, it was huge, and a low rumbling shook the ground around them. All across the world, players saw the same thing. In the next moment, Kirito and the others received a message from the Oracle of the Temple of Gaea, to come quickly.<p> 


	24. Chapter 24: The Darkness We Have Created

_Year 1, Month 7_

Asuna, Kirito and the rest of their old group walked through the rest of Pinewood. This was shortly after they cleared the Red-Handed out of the area, and sacked their headquarters. The group spent their time exploring beyond what would soon become Fort Freedom, and as the rest of the group stopped to rest, Kirito and Asuna scouted on ahead. As they walked, Kirito looked to Asuna. "Not Yui," he said to her.

Asuna blinked and looked back at him. "Why not?"

"Because Yui is Yui."

Asuna giggled at him. "But Yui was always our daughter. Why can't they share a name?" Kirito shook his head. Asuna smirked as she thought of another name. "What about Sachi?"

Kirito blinked, and shook his head. "No," he said. "Too many bad memories… Why can't we come up with a new name?"

"Because," Asuna said as she stopped and leaned against a tree. "I want a name that has meaning to us." Kirito shrugged. After another couple moments, Asuna spoke again. "Yuichi…" she said. "It's a little bit of both, right? But it's not either. It carries all of the legacy of our adventures, without being too similar to either."

"Yuichi," Kirito said. He nodded. "Yuichi. I like that… Yuichi's a good name."

Asuna smiled, and pulled Kirito over into a hug. "You hear that, mom?" she asked softly, speaking to the camera. "Yuichi... don't you think about changing it."

_Year 2, Month 10, Day 31_

Asuna had taken Kirito's place as the group's official leader, and she led them into the woods past the Green Mountains. Kirito lingered back, watching her and feeling dejected. Leafa walked next to him, and on occasion would try to talk to him, to distract him from his thoughts, and to help however she could. Eulsam walked with Asuna, in the spot where Kirito would have been had they still been together.

"I still don't understand it," Eulsam said to her. "You still love him, but you don't want to be with him."

Asuna nodded. The two were far enough ahead of Kirito to talk without him hearing, as long as they kept their voices down. "It's complicated, I know… but I need a break from the dream high school romance that we've had for a long time."

"Most people would die to have a dream like that," Eulsam said. "You know it kills me… to know that my father was involved in all of that. That he actually caused it. It wasn't the first time…"

"Forget about him," Asuna said. "To tell you the truth we didn't actually do much at all. It was more just to do something to… to do what I thought at the time was getting even. We barely touched one another."

"That doesn't change the fact that it happened," Eulsam said. "He's done that type of thing before, and I wish I had warned you. It might have prevented it."

"Or might not have…" Asuna said. "Can we stop talking about him?"

Eulsam nodded. "So what are you going to do now?" he asked. "I heard a rumor about you trying to get with Sinon. Is that true?"

Asuna shook her head. "No," she said. "It was more of a joke, but I did offer after everything happened. She said that it wouldn't be right, and so we left it at that." She sighed and looked down. "It would be ironic now if she ended up with Kirito… I already punished both of them for it, so I wouldn't blame them if they did."

"If you don't want that to happen," Eulsam said. "Then quit this silly break up that everyone knows won't last, and take him back."

"I'd rather not look back now."

"You're still wearing the necklace."

Asuna nodded. "What's your point?"

"If you're not going to put it to good use, you should give them both back to Michiko." Asuna tapped her inventory, and traded the item to Eulsam. He took it, but didn't know why she had given it to him. "Can't do it on your own?"

"I could," she said. "Instead, I want you to give that to the next person you see Kirito with."

"Why?"

"If we get back together, I'd like to think that whoever it is would give it back to me… so I could know that we could still be friends after that."

"Alright," Eulsam said. "I hope that if you do find someone else though, you avoid people like my father."

"Like you?"

Eulsam stopped, and blinked. "That's not what I meant." He shook his head and kept going. "Why would you think to drag me into your crazy love triangle anyways?"

"Call me nostalgic," she said. "But pretty much just because you dual wield swords."

While Asuna and Eulsam continued to chat. Michiko and Xaela walked together. They were off to one side, a wing of the group. "So," Michiko said. "It's wrong just because God says it's wrong?"

Xaela nodded, but wasn't even sure of her own answer. "Well," she said. "Think of it this way, if say… Isaac Newton told you that you were wrong about a math equation, you would take his word for it, wouldn't you?"

"I suppose I might," Michiko said.

"God is to morality what Isaac Newton is to physics, in that God is the authority on morality. If an authority of mathematics tells you your math is wrong, then you take their word for it. If God tells you your morals are wrong, you believe Him."

"I get that," Michiko said. "But God hasn't ever told me anything directly."

"That's what the bible is for," Xaela said. "The bible is God's word."

"God wrote the bible?" Michiko asked. She knew the answer to the question, but it was a piece of logical rhetoric.

"Well," Xaela said. "Yes and no. He didn't… literally write the bible. He influenced people to write it. And since He is all powerful, could he really let his own word be written wrong?"

"So he dictated," Michiko said. "How do the writers know that God is telling them what to write, and that they aren't just crazy?"

Xaela thought about it for a moment, and shrugged. "I suppose that's why it's called faith."

"I don't have faith," Michiko said.

"Everyone has faith, even if they don't believe in any god. It's like this… every morning the sun rises, and every night the sun sets. You don't know that it will rise and set every day, and you have to take it on faith that it will."

Michiko shook her head. "But I don't have to have faith for that. I know that the Earth spins on its axis, and as we spin around, we face the sun during the day, and face away during the night. Not faith… knowledge."

"Okay," Xaela said. "What about the sun in this world?"

"What do you mean?"

"When it's night time here, where does the sun go?"

Michiko looked up to the sky for a moment and shrugged. "There's probably a program that says to make the sun appear during the day, and to travel across the sky until it disappears at night."

"But you don't know that's what's going on for sure. What you do know is that every day, the sun rises and falls, and you would expect it to continue doing that like it has for the past… almost two years now."

Michiko nodded to her. "Okay, so I guess I have a little faith. But is that really faith? It's just something I don't think about… or at least haven't thought about until now. Maybe one day it won't rise. In the Kingdom of Al'kur, the sun never shined."

"Well, you certainly have faith that you'll convince me to sleep with you one day. And that must mean you have a whole lot of faith, maybe even more than I do… to believe in something that will never happen."

"I think God told me that it will," Michiko said, jeering at her. Xaela laughed and shook her head "But you're right. I suppose I do have quit a lot of faith, even if it isn't faith in the sense of a religious belief. But you believe in a God you have never seen or heard or witnessed for yourself. Your faith must be incredible since it's based on an utter lack of evidence—far greater than mine which is more of a bet that I'll convince you that it's okay to love someone."

Xaela smirked. "Well I'll take that as a compliment, then."

"Guys," Klein said as he turned around. Everyone stopped talking, and looked at him. He had fallen behind when he saw what he saw, and now that the rest of the group saw it as well, they stopped too. Behind them on the trunks of trees were scratched words. Dozens of them were marked with things like "Help Me," and other cries for help.

"What is this place?" Kirito asked as he read the various inscriptions.

"Help!" a loud, eerie call for help echoed out. As it did, the leaves and the dirt kicked up, as if an invisible person was being dragged forcibly through the forest. It tore right through the group, and everyone ran towards it as it went past them.

"What was that?" Asuna asked.

"No idea!" Michiko shouted as they followed the dragging to a huge cave opening where it stopped, and seemed to vanish. Now, they heard more cries for help echoing from the cave. And underneath the pleas for assistance, they heard a faint, distant crying sound echoing from the cave.

The players all drew their weapons and cautiously entered the darkness of the cavern. "Save me. Please help!" they heard amidst the terrified screams that echoed endless off of the rock walls.

"Got a light?" Kirito asked. Leafa nodded, and activated a spell that caused a globe of light to appear at the front of the group. It moved with them as they went into the cave, but they saw nothing more than more scratches on the walls.

Suddenly, Asuna got a message from the Pegasus system. She read it aloud for the group to hear. "Voice analyses indicate something rather startling about these cries for help. After separating a few of them, they match with incredible similarity the tones and vocal patterns of… of deceased players."

Michiko raised her head as she heard a voice cry out for help, but not just for help. "Michiko," it whispered. "Help!" Everyone looked at her.

She paused for a moment. "Lily…" she said before bolting off, and charging through the halls. "Lily!" she shouted. "Where are you?"

"No, Michiko!" Xaela said running after her. The rest of the group charged with them. "Wait up! You can't go alone!"

As they went down through the winding caves, the voices and the screams grew louder and louder, and the scribbles on the cavern walls became more frequent. She finally stopped at what appeared to be a huge, opened door. The other side was all black, and a steady breeze flowed into it.

Everyone caught their breath when Michiko finally stopped. "What do you think is in there?" Asuna asked.

"Nothing good," Eulsam said. The sound of crying was like that of a terrified small child, and the group could see the shape of such a small child appear within the room. Its cries were louder now.

Without thinking, Michiko ran into the room. Everyone screamed for her to stay back, but it was too late. The darkness all fled to the child at the center of the room, and a sudden shout that sounded like the voices of ten thousand souls crying for help all sounded off at once. The child floated up into the air, and lights danced all around it.

Above the child's head a boss tag appeared. It read "The Darkness We Have Created," as a name, and its level appeared, not as simply high, or blocked out by a pair of question marks like most monsters of too high a level to fight. This boss's level appeared as a skull and crossbones. The light swarming around the child all formed together and appeared as a huge floating torso of eerie green and blue lights. Its eyes flashed, and what appeared to be black fire burned from them.

Michiko turned to run from the thing, but as she headed back to the door, a stream of moving lights all appeared to grab hold of her, and pulled her back in. "Come!" the voices of ten thousand players shouted out. "Your soul is ours, and you cannot escape our grip of death." Michiko was flung back to the center of the huge room, and immediately got up to run again. This time she got out of the room, and the players grabbed hold of her as the lights grabbed her once more.

Eulsam opened up his player menu, and started tapping out a distress call, asking for all players within reach to come immediately. "Leafa!" he shouted. "Open a portal so more can come in!"

"We have to fight," Kirito said entering the room. Leafa stayed outside, and opened up her portal, but everyone else all followed Kirito in. Once inside, they could see the dancing lights all around the room, coating the edges and the roof of the arena. The voices of all of those players continued to ring out.

Michiko stood up, and gripped her weapon tight. She clearly would not be allowed to flee from this fight. No one would. "How do we fight this thing?" Klein asked.

"It's got to be an elemental, ghost or aberration," Eulsam said. "All of which are difficult to fight to begin with." Sinon pulled back an arrow, and fired it at the monster. It went right through it without dealing damage. "Looks like physical weapons are no good," Eulsam said.

Then, some of the lights began to land on the floor before the group of players. They shifted into a proper human shape. Michiko was face to face with Lily, her older sister, and she hesitated while the ghastly woman attacked her. She could only defend herself at the last moment. "Michiko!" she shouted. "You watched me die! You did nothing!"

A ghost appeared before Kirito next, and it took the form of Papa Bear. "Kirito," he said. "I died for you, and now my son is fatherless." The man attacked, and Kirito defended himself. Klein faced an old friend from Sword Art Online, and the other players all found themselves in similar situations, staring face to face with the ghosts of their pasts.

As they battled, more and more spirits emerged from the mass of souls, players they killed, players they knew, and players they watched die. Kirito slashed through the ghost of Papa Bear, and he vanished instantly. When he turned to aid Asuna in combat, he was attacked by Diabel, and raised a sword to defend himself. "You knew," Diabel said. "You knew what that boss would do, and you watched me die. No!" Diabel continued his assault. "You let me die in your arms when you could have saved me!" Kirito parried one attack, and thrust forward with another, hitting the ghost and causing the spirit to fly back into the mass at the center.

As Sinon fired off arrows, she felt something, and saw a series of red lines aim at her. She acted quickly, and whipped out of the line of fire. When she turned around, she saw Tex shooting at her, and fired an arrow, which hit her.

As Asuna finished off one of the ghosts, she turned around and gasped as she stared at Yuuki. Yuuki said nothing as she charged for her, and the two fought.

Outside, more players were starting to come in. Lisbeth and Sampson were the first, and they wasted no time before charging the room to join the fight. The moment Lisbeth walked in, she was approached by the ghosts of Matt, Sarah, Hael and Blue. They all started launching magical attacks at her, and she activated her Paladin mode before striking back. "What is going on?" She shouted over the chaos and the fighting.

"The ghosts of dead players seem to have come back to haunt is here," Klein said as he fought back another dead friend. "We have no idea how to fight the boss."

Lisbeth looked at the huge mass in the center. She lifted her sword, and fire swirled around it. She directed the flames at the boss, but the bolt of dragon's fire passed harmlessly through it. "But that was a divine type attack!" she shouted. "If that can't hit it, nothing can!"

Sampson was stopped, and brought to his knees as he stared at the ghost of Tex, who had reappeared before him. "You let me fall," the girl said. "I'm dead because you turned your back at the worst possible moment!" Tex charged Sampson, drawing a set of pistols and shooting. Lisbeth used her wing to block the shots, since her invulnerability was still active. When Tex reached him, she slashed with her sword, and she vanished accordingly.

"That boss doesn't even have a health bar!" Asuna shouted between dodging and striking at Yuuki. "How do we fight it?"

"You don't!" Yuuki shouted. "You die here! You all die and join us in this hell!"

Eulsam fought back against a horde of Red-Handed players who he personally killed, and was soon joined by more Protectors who had come through the portal to assist. He looked up at the mass of lights, and squinted to see the child floating within it. "There!" he shouted as he pointed one of his swords to that figure floating within the light. "The target is inside of the boss!"

Asuna knocked Yuuki with her shield, and the ghost vanished. She then assumed her Valkyrie state, and equipped her spear. She and Xaela had since swapped their spears, so it was the non-legendary but still formidable Silver Steel weapon. It crackled with lightning, and she hurled it at her target. It hit, and all of the souls seemed to scream out in pain, but the attack did not stop. They couldn't see the health bar clearly enough to see if any considerable amount of damage had been done.

After the strike, the child fell to the ground, and one of the lights swarmed into it. It approached Kirito, and appeared as the ghost of Sachi. "Kirito," she said. "Kirito…"

Kirito looked to her, and was frozen in fear. He took a step back from the approaching spirit. "S-Sachi?"

"You lied to us, Kirito," Sachi said. Other players tried to attack Sachi, and she held out her hand. A wave of light energy exploded from her, knocking those attackers back. "You lied to us and it got us killed. You watched me die. Will you watch me die again? Will you kill me now?"

Kirito feel to his knees, his heart darkening. Eulsam looked over at Kirito to see his will suddenly drop to zero as a buff appeared next to his vitals. "Kirito!" he shouted. "Don't listen to her!"

"They're going to kill me unless you stop them, Kirito…" As another wave of players attacked the ghost, Kirito leapt to her defense, attacking the players with great fury.

Leafa saw this from outside, and deactivated the portal to rush in. When she did, dozens of ghosts appeared before her. They were the souls of those players who she had failed to keep alive in dungeons and in player versus player raids. She panicked, not knowing how to fight so many of them. After Sampson and Lisbeth dealt with the four dead members of Rexem's party, they moved in to help her, taking out many of those souls by striking them from behind while they weren't prepared.

Leafa used this opportunity to move in around the group, and cast a debuff on Kirito. Once Kirito was hit with it, he snapped back to his normal self, and turned to swing at the ghost of Sachi, dealing some damage to the boss. The ghost quickly vanished though, and the child figure was slung back into position in the cage of lights.

Before Kirito could move to fight again, he got a message from Pegasus. It read: "Keep fighting. This boss is no ordinary one. Since you engaged it, we've gotten major network activity in the real world. We're tracing this battle like a phone call! Buy us time and we'll shut this boss down for you from our side." Kirito smiled, and went to continue attacking the ghosts. He went to Asuna first, and told her what he just read. She nodded, and the two started moving around, telling everyone.

With that news, players were able to take up a more defensive tactic. The objective now was not to win, but to survive, and it was a much easier one to accomplish. As they did so though, a new ghost appeared. It approached the players, and drew a sword from its huge shield. "Kirito," a voice said.

"Oh no…" Kirito said, looking at the approaching ghost. It was a spitting image of Heathcliff. Kirito leapt from the defensive state to attack the ghost. Like before, Heathcliff was written into the game as an immortal object. Leafa began firing her heals out at him, and Kirito could do nothing but hold the ghost's attention, and keep him away from the rest of the players.

Asuna blinked as she got the next message from Pegasus. "We gave it a virus. Its health should now read 1/1. The rest is up to you." She nodded, and charged from the crowd of players, knocking back ghosts and leapt towards the core. When she hit it though, the lights all took hold of her, and pushed her back down. Kirito saw this, and ran from Heathcliff towards the mass of light. He threw one of his swords at the target, and hit. Suddenly, the boss was downed.

It screamed out… all of the souls cried and everything in the room shook. All of the lights and all of the ghosts were sucked back into the dark figure at the center, and then it exploded in a golden wave. The players all caught their breath as the healers in the group brought everyone back up to maximum health.

What happened next caught everyone by surprise. The ghosts of the players turned into silhouettes of light, and shined gold and white in the room, and they began to fly from the brilliant point that now lied in place of the dark one at the center of the room.

The ghost of Tex approached Sampson, and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said. "It was out of my control." Sampson nodded slowly, not really believing what he was seeing. "You know it's not your fault, right?" Sampson nodded again. "Good. I have to go now… But I want you to promise me one more thing before I do…"

"What is it?" Sampson asked.

"From the plane beyond this one, I have seen my family and how my passing lingers around their house. I would like for you to pay them a visit, and help mend their hearts once this is all over. Will you do that for me?"

"Yes, of course!" Sampson said. "I… I can't believe I'm really seeing this. All of these dead players—"

Tex put a finger to his lips and smiled. "Some things are best just not to question." After that, she faded into a flash of light, and flew out of the cave with the rest.

While she talked with Sampson, other players were talking to the images of friends and family that they had lost. Michiko spoke a great deal with Lily, and Kirito watched as the conversation ended in a hug. Xaela talked to her former party, from way back before she was captured by the Red-Handed.

Kirito turned towards the light to face Sachi. He blinked, and took a step back. "Kirito," she said. "It's okay. I won't hurt you."

Kirito bowed his head, and gritted his teeth. "But the things you said… or you were made to say. They were true. I should have done something different—" Sachi stopped him from speaking by placing her hand on his cheek. She shook her head.

"When I was scared, you gave me strength. You sheltered me and you did as much as you could. I don't blame you for anything bad that happened. And you shouldn't blame yourself, either. It's time for me to go…" She started walking on, but looked back at him and smiled. She mouthed those same words to him that she did just before she died, and then as she left, turning into a stream of light, she hummed a happy little tune, and her spirit left that place.

"Kirito," another voice said. When he turned around, he was face to face with the last of the souls lingering in the chamber, the glowing image of Kayaba Akihiko.

"K-Kayaba," Kirito said. "What is this place?"

"What was this place? You mean?" he said. "It's complicated, but long story short, it was a trap for all of the minds of the deceased players."

"That's not possible though. Even if Laughing Coffin had the minds of the players who died in this game… Sachi… many of those other players died in Sword Art Online."

"Laughing Coffin used my programming to make this game," Kayaba said. "All of the data was already out there, they just had to find it. When they did, they needed to keep me from intervening in their world, and to do that, they created that boss you just defeated. It trapped us in a hell-like place, where we relived our worst memories time and time again. The minds of all of the players who died in the virtual world remain."

"Wait," Kirito said. "You said they needed to keep you from intervening. Does that mean you have the power to end this game?" The players listening all looked up hopefully.

"No," Kayaba said. "They have safety nets upon safety nets to prevent me from doing anything major. If I were to access system commands, they would stop me immediately. It will be some time before I am able to take control of the virtual realm back."

"So you're powerless?" Kirito asked.

"Not totally." Kayaba opened up his player inventory, and transferred an item to Kirito. "Call it a bonus drop for defeating the boss. Sadly, it can only be used once… after that, the method involved in using it will be blocked by the Laughing Coffin's tracers. So use it wisely…" Kirito read the item's description, and looked up at him. He nodded, and Kayaba walked past the group. "Good luck… my champions." With that Kayaba left the players.

* * *

><p>In the real world, somewhere in Mexico, a man sat at a computer desk in a hot apartment room. Fans blew around the room, and the heat from several machines made him hot and sweaty. It was dusk, and as it darkened, he heard a helicopter outside his window. He thought nothing of it until he heard the knock.<p>

"Policia!" a man shouted just before breaking the door open. The man panicked and jumped quickly to action. He typed up something on his computer quickly. Before he could hit another key to input the command he had written, he was hit in the back with a pair of wires, and his body jolted as electricity coursed through his muscles.

A few moments later, a man walked in with an IVRTF badge, and picked the man up. The stun had stopped, and he was still shaking. "How's it going?" the agent asked. He waited a few moments, and the man groaned. "Alright, not your finest hour…" He looked down, and the man had pissed himself when the Taser hit him. The agent only laughed and shook his head. "You're under arrest… by the authority of the IVRTF… in America, I'd have to read you a whole list of rights, but considering your terrorist status, you don't have any. Let's go…" He led the man out, and a crew came in to start packing up his computer equipment.

* * *

><p>GothGod and his Death Oath had gone to the Ruins of Al'Kuraz. Using charms and spells, they made their way to a hidden room within without fighting a single monster. Once there, the Black Prophet went to a pedestal upon which there sat a big with a large skull on the cover. He picked it up, and opened it. "Yes," he said. "This… will serve us well."<p>

"The Tome of the Damned," Fatalone said. "My eyes have seen it and how it can be used. The armies of death and darkness will rise up under your command! The world will be ours…"

"Indeed," GothGod said. "And that just leaves one thing left on our shopping list, doesn't it." Fatalone nodded, and GothGod walked out of the door of the dungeon. They went to the top of the pyramid structure, and the Black Prophet read from the Tome of the Damned. A few moments later, the undead monsters in the dungeon began to march out from its entrance.


	25. Chapter 25: The Real World

he real world was much different since the start of the death game. As the shows aired, the players became more popular. They were the topics of every piece of pop culture in the developed world. It had gone on for so long that the existence of the death game had become a normal thing. Most people had forgotten that it even was a death game. It had become instead just a distant world where real people were doing real things… amazing things.

And it wasn't just one show, and they weren't even all about the champions of this virtual world. The most popular however was. The first of the shows to start up, and the most watched, was the one following the story of Kirito and Asuna. In the game world, their break up was a personal choice, but in the real world, it was beyond scandalous. The scene of their would-be private talk in that bedroom was an international headline. Fans of the couple were all shocked, and it sparked something of a movement in global culture.

True love was the topic at hand. Was it real or a fairy tale? All around the world, people started to share their belief of true love in the form of artwork, clothing, coffee mugs. Someone somewhere put out a line of tee shirts that captured a picture-perfect moment from earlier in the show when the couple shared a kiss. "I believe in love," was one of the many things written, "Kirito & Asuna Forever" another might say.

And it didn't stop there. While Kirito and Asuna were by far the most popular players, most of what people had begun to call the main cast were beloved and had fans all over the world. People got replica tattoos of Lisbeth's dragon wings and tail. Live action sword fights became so popular that dueling with foam weapons became a sport and was aired all over the world, and replica Elucidators were the number one selling piece of equipment to take to that sport. People wore tee shirts and other apparel that had their favorite players plastered over them.

Dramatic reenactments even started popping up, and someone even started a rumor of a feature length movie detailing the key events of Sword Art Online. And as these products rolled into the market, the companies and individuals who produced them got rich. Every time anything related to the death game sold, a piece of it went to the IVRTF, another piece went to the charity groups who helped the players and their families, and another piece was reserved for any specific players and their families, if anything that was considered a part of them was on it.

The world had stopped seeing the players as victims. They started seeing them as heroes and villains and ordinary people all leading amazing lives in a fantastical world. Some even began to envy the lives of the players. The only victims were the players who had actually died or suffered in the game, and they were seen less as victims of the game itself, and more victims of the perpetrators of otherwise criminal actions within the game.

But even while the masses were on fire with fanaticism for their celebrity game players, the real world had to keep turning on. And the real world was full of its own problems. When the news aired that the IVRTF had made a major breakthrough in capturing a small Laughing Coffin server base, it was the cause of celebration. "Soon," people said. "The game will end. The players will return as heroes and superstars."

But this game was never meant to end, and the stroke of luck made the people who would see this game go on forever angry. And they would strike back.

* * *

><p>In the board room of the IVRTF, the top agents met again. The situation was rather dire, and embarrassing on their part. It was described by the media as an utter failure to protect the privacy and safety of the players they were sworn to protect. "Seijiro," the director said. "Do you want to explain?"<p>

"Well," he said. "Clearly… there were some major lapses in our system's security." Seijiro was nervous, and didn't quite know how he should explain himself to the director. "We have since gone through and reworked our network. It won't happen again."

"It won't happen again?" Makatawa said. "It shouldn't have happened at all. Why would you even keep footage like that?"

"We decided that we should save all recorded files and archive them, in case they needed to be reviewed in the future. Many were also considered evidence of crimes committed within the game, and so—"

"So you put them on thumb drives and keep them in a storeroom, not on your main servers!" Zimmar said.

"Have you bothered to inform the affected players yet?" the director asked.

Seijiro shook his head. "We will… as soon as we figure out what to say. Just focus on the positive here!"

"Which would be…"

"This was a deliberate attempt to thwart the progress we've made with a media frenzy," Seijiro said. "We're still sifting through the intelligence we have now, but they're certain it will result in critical information about the location of Laughing Coffin servers. They did this because they know we're getting close."

The director folded his papers and stood up. "Seijiro, I hope you understand that your job is on the line here… as well as your reputation. People will hate you for this. I'm leaving it up to you to address the public. You created this mess, now fix it."

"Yes, sir," Seijiro said before getting up and leaving behind the director. Everyone else followed.

* * *

><p>"Mr. Seijiro!" a news reporter shouted. The crowd of media officials waited outside of the IVRTF headquarters, and all approached him as he walked out of the building. He straightened his suit up, and took a deep breath. "Mr. Seijiro, what do you have to say in regards to the leaked footage coming from your department?"<p>

"The leaked footage was the carefully crafted move of a group of cowards who hide behind their computer desks. It was an attack designed to bring great scrutiny to the IVRTF, and to slow down our efforts in freeing the players."

"Do you accept responsibility for allowing the leak?"

Seijiro stood silently for a moment, and then nodded slowly. "Our security faltered, and as the head of my department, it's my job to ensure that cyber-attacks like this one don't happen. So, yes. I failed in that respect. At the moment I can only offer my sincerest apologies to the public, and to the players and their friends and family members. And I can promise that we will not be stopped. This is just another terrorist attack, and we will find those responsible and bring them to justice. That is all for now, we will address the public when we have more information…" After that he moved through the crowd and got into a limo ready to transport him as the news reporters followed and tried to get more information.

After he got in the car, he took a drink of water and shook his head. The car drove him back to the department of observations, off limits to civilians and media since the attack. Once he got into his office, he started to type up the message he would send out to the players through Pegasus.

"Dear players," the final draft read. "We regret to inform you that there has been a major cyber-attack against the IVRTF and the department of observations, where we watch players with the intent of tracking and identifying criminals within the game. We are truly sorry to say that if you are one of the players receiving this message, then you were directly affected by this attack. Certain audio and video footage that was stored on an unsecure network within our department was leaked, and this includes particularly sensitive and private events from your time in the game. At the time, we believe Laughing Coffin is responsible for this attack, and that it was a desperate tactic used in response to a recent success we had in the effort to locate their servers, and end the game. Such footage will be considered illicit material, and those who are found to be in possession, downloading, or uploading this content will be prosecuted under local laws. However, as you probably know, it is highly improbable that every instance of this data will be found and removed. Our sincerest apologies. We failed you."

The list of recipients was long, and included Michiko, Xaela, Kirito, Asuna, Lisbeth, Sampson and many others. After the message was sent, Seijiro closed his laptop and sat in his office for a few moments.

* * *

><p>"My daughter doesn't blame you for this," Yuuki Kyouko, Asuna's mother said. She and Seijiro met alone in Asuna's hospital room. "But I do. I know that it's your responsibility to keep things like this from happening."<p>

"There's nothing I can do about it now," Seijiro said. "If you've asked me to come here to berate me, I think you're wasting our time."

"Oh believe me," she said. "I could go on for days, but no. That's not why I've asked to speak with you." Kyouko pulled a letter from her purse, and handed it to Seijiro. "I found this in a brown envelope on my doorstep this morning. A note inside said to hand it to you personally."

Seijiro opened the white envelope, and pulled a thumb drive out from inside of it. "What is this?"

"I don't know. I didn't want to open it myself, for fear it was something awful."

"Thank you for passing this on," he said before turning to leave, stuffing the thumb drive into his pocket.

"Seijiro," she said before he left. He stopped and listened. "Get the bastards who did this…"

* * *

><p>Seijiro held the thumb drive in his hand as he sat on a park bench near the hospital. He had his laptop opened, and he had turned the laptop's wireless capabilities off before he decided to plug it in. On the thumb drive was a single document. It was named with numbers, and when he opened it up, he found himself staring at an English document labeled with CIA stamps. His eyes widened as he started to read its contents.<p>

After that, he took out his phone, and dialed a number. "Yes," he said. "This is Kikuoka Seijiro with the IVRTF. I have something you might be interested in. I will text you the location and time to meet me."

* * *

><p>The next day, the headlines across the world were all the same. "CIA Involved in Death Game." The document leaked from an anonymous source had details of a CIA operation called "White Whale." The objective of the operation seemed to target Kayaba Akihiko, who created Sword Art Online. It detailed funding to a third party researching the AmuSphere and human consciousness, and it also detailed an executed plan to assassinate Sugou Nobuyuki as a cover up. The overall mission was to hunt down and eliminate the uploaded pieces of Akihiko's consciousness, but in the course of the mission, they had incidentally funded the same technology being used in the death game.<p>

The next time Seijiro walked into the board meeting, Zimmar was walking out. He looked at Seijiro and sighed before walking on and out of the building. "Seijiro," the director said. "Did you hear the good news?"

"Good news?"

"Zimmar was fired, and the IVRTF has elected to discontinue allowing US personnel to operate within it as a result of the leaked CIA documents."

"I heard about those…"

"Looks like you're out of the spotlight, and so is the IVRTF, for now. You didn't have anything to do with that, did you?"

"No, sir."

"Good to hear. How did the players take the news?"

"Badly…"

"As expected. We'll move on from this though…"

* * *

><p>A few days had passed, and Yuuki Kyouko was sitting in Asuna's hospital room, working from her laptop. Last time, it wasn't possible to communicate with the players. They didn't even know what was going on inside the game. Now it was different. On a monitor mounted against the wall, Kyouko could see the world of Vearth through her daughter's eyes.<p>

"Mom," she suddenly heard from the speakers there. She looked up to see that her daughter had gotten out of bed, and was alone out on a balcony in Newberg. "Are you there?"

Kyouko opened up an application on her laptop. It was a window and as it loaded, the icon of a Pegasus appeared on the screen. She had to input login information, and it took a good thirty seconds to connect. She had a list of names of players to which she was authorized to send messages. The list was small, and any that she wasn't directly related to had to give their permission. She had on that list Asuna, Kirito and Eulsam.

After clicking Asuna's name, she typed her response back. It was short, a simple "Yes."

"What do you think about this?" Asuna asked. "About me and Kirito?"

"I think you're making a mistake," Kyouko responded back. Then she typed up some more. "But you are an adult now. I spent most of your life raising you and teaching you how to act. The days where your mother gives you all the answers and direction are over."

After Asuna read, she nodded, though such a head motion couldn't be seen very well on the monitor. "You never liked Kirito, though. I thought you would be happy about it."

Kyouko minimized her work windows to focus on the messaging. It was strange for her to respond to voice with text. She muttered what she wrote as she wrote it. "Kirito was a mistake, in my opinion, but I learned to trust that you knew what to do with your own heart. You did love him and from what I can tell, he loved you too. That's not why I think breaking up is a mistake though. You have a child together, he was going to marry you. Do you realize how hard it's going to be, already, for Yuichi? Every second you spend trapped in the game is a second you're losing with her. I was happy, even though I didn't like Kirito, when you saved him. I was happy for you, but more importantly, I was happy for your daughter. I don't think you fully understand how important your roles as parents are."

"How is she doing?" Asuna asked.

"She's quiet. She hasn't yet said her first words, which could mean she's developing slowly. I imagine she takes after Kirito."

"Do you think she can sense it somehow… that something is terribly wrong with her parents?"

"There's no way she could understand what's going on between you and Kirito right now. That being said, it might be easier to understand your absence."

"I've never seen her," Asuna said. "Never held her in my arms or talked to her once. Am I really her mother if I'm not there?"

"If you love her so much that you would die to save her," Kyouko typed out. "Then she is your daughter and you are her mother." Kyouko looked up at the television after she sent that. Breaking news: US to cut funding to IVRTF and hospitals supporting players. Her eyes widened. Before Asuna responded, she typed another message. "Something's happening on the news," she wrote. "Give me a moment, I'm going to watch."

"Okay…" Asuna said.

As Kyouko turned up the volume, she heard what was being said. "So let me get this straight," the reporter said, holding her hand to an earpiece and talking to another reporter on the scene at the White House. "They're backing out of funding to protect the CIA operatives involved in Operation White Whale?"

"Yes," the other reporter said. "That's what is effectively going on. They didn't cave to pressure from foreign nations to put the agents on trial, and so when trade started getting cut off, they decided that they couldn't handle the economic backlash, they opted to stop funding the victims of the death game."

"How long is this expected to last?"

"They're saying that they'll put forth more funding once the sanctions are lifted."

Kyouko typed out a message. "The US is saying they're going to stop funding any efforts involving the death game."

Asuna read, and blinked, which was much more visible than nodding. "Wait… what about the players in hospitals there?"

"I don't know. The show being aired has provided a ton of money, but the funding required to keep them on life support and all of the observation equipment running. It's going to cost a lot more. More than half of the players are hospitalized on US soil."

Asuna went back into the bedroom, and shook Eulsam's shoulder. He slowly stirred, and rolled his eyes. "Good morning, Asuna," he said. "Oh… wait, it's still night time."

"Read these," Asuna said, flipping the message screen over for him to read the last few messages.

He sat up, and read them, and then yawned. "Oh, you're mom is totally watching us right now. That's not awkward…"

"What about the news, you fool?" Eulsam waved a hand dismissively, and laid back down. "Eulsam. You're from the US. You got to have something to say."

"They pull stunts like that all the time," he said. "They're not going to let forty thousand people die… Not like it affects me anyways. I'm in Japan right now. The most they'll do is turn off Pegasus access and video feeds for a few days."

"There's got to be something we can do though," Asuna said.

"Asuna, you care too much about things."

"As the leader of the Veteran Protectors Guild, you should at least address the players. You're kind of the biggest public figure here, you know."

"I'll say something in the morning… Goodnight Asuna, Mrs. Yuuki." He turned and got comfy in his bed once more.

"Rude…" Asuna said.

Kyouko smirked as she watched the two of them. The moment was a brief slice of life that made everything seem less serious for a moment. It was good to see her daughter leading something of a normal life despite the circumstances. She sent another message to her. "I'm going home and going to sleep. You should get your sleep too. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

* * *

><p>The next day, Eulsam was up early, and had gathered a small group of players in the briefing room. He was speaking with them about the news in the real world, but he was also speaking directly to the IVRTF. He had a plan.<p>

"I'm here." Seijiro sent the message once he got into his office. "What's this idea you've got?"

"About time," Eulsam said once he read the message. "Do you have any connections with the companies airing our show?"

As Seijiro watched the meeting, he saw Asuna wander into the room. He sent in the message. "Yes. Why?"

"It might be a stretch," Eulsam said in response. "But I'd like to meet with them after this. I want to host a publicity stunt of an event, with the intention of creating an exclusive event with paid access, to later be aired. Something like that of a sporting event."

"What are you talking about?" Asuna asked.

"A tournament," Eulsam said. "All of the leading players competing in a tournament in the arena in the Dune Sea. I've sent messengers out to meet with members of Laughing Coffin and the Red Hand in hopes that they will join. The objective here is twofold. First, to generate extra funds for those supporting the IVRTF and the hospitalized players. Second, to call a ceasefire in this world."

"I'll see what I can do," Seijiro typed as a response.

* * *

><p>Not only was it a good idea, but it was accepted with open arms by even the player killers. Laughing Coffin extended the ceasefire agreement to the real world as well, agreeing not to launch any attacks for the duration of the tournament, they also generated a new bit of programming for the event. From this point on, tournament or not, players could use the arena as a place to safely duel to the death. Any players who die within the arena town's limits would be automatically re-spawned at the point of their body after fifteen seconds. It effectively turned the town into Vearth's first, true safe zone.<p>

In the real world, a single company bought out the rights to air the event exclusively. They also chose to make use of hologram technology. This would allow them to host events that were practically live-action in the real world. It would take a few weeks, but they decided to rent out football and other event stadiums across the world, and install hologram projection within them. They would sell tickets to live events, and they would be the first of their kind in history. They agreed that the profits would be split with the IVRTF, who would then fund hospitals not only in the US but around the world.

The event became a bigger spectacle than any of the previous shows aired. People all over the world swapped out their "True Love" tee shirts for Arena shirts sporting their favored champions. The tournament would be operated completely within the virtual world, and in the real world, they would simply bring it to life for public consumption. Tickets to the live events sold out practically overnight once they became available.


	26. Chapter 26: Midwinter Nights

The tournament was set to begin at the start of the new year, and until then, players enjoyed a widespread ceasefire, and everyone enjoyed themselves for the time being. As December rolled in, players started to celebrate the coming holidays in relative peace. Snow fell again on the city of Newberg, a stronger one than any of the years previous, and it covered the ground of the plains, turning the grassy fields into a snowy landscape.

Kirito ran into Asuna as he walked through the town. He smiled at her, and she smiled back, and they stopped to share a few words. "How are you?" Kirito asked, breaking the strange ice that had formed between the two.

"I'm good," she said as she rubbed her hands together to try and warm them up. "You?"

Kirito nodded. "I could say the same…" There was an awkward silence for a few moments. "Hey uhh," he started up again. "I'm going out towards the forest to practice a little. Don't want to be rusty when the tournament comes around. Do you want to join me?"

Asuna shook her head. "No thanks," she said. "I have plans…"

"Oh?" Kirito said. "What plans?"

"A date…" Asuna said, her voice quieting a little, not sure if it was a good subject to move on to.

Kirito nodded. "Alright well… have fun," he ended up saying before moving on.

Asuna started to do the same, but turned around. She watched him walk away and wanted to say something, but shook her head and turned to go back the other day. Kirito felt her watching, but didn't look back. He couldn't look back.

At the same time, Michiko and Xaela walked together, moving towards where Kirito was. "So," Michiko said. "God set up a bunch of rules… but now people can ignore a lot of them?"

Xaela shook her head. "It's not that we ignore them," she said. "It's that we're free from the binds of the law."

"Please, explain…"

"That's why we're Christians, and not Jewish. When Christ died on the cross, it was the fulfillment of the law, like the epic climax to a story thousands of years in the making. Ever since Eve fell to sin and bit into the Fruit of Knowledge, everything went all out of whack in the universe, because she broke God's commandment. But Christ dying on the cross set everything straight again."

"Then why aren't we back in Eden?"

Xaela shrugged. "I don't know… you ask a lot of questions, and I'm running out of answers. I'm not exactly a biblical scholar."

"Doesn't it explain why somewhere in the bible, though?"

Xaela shook her head. "Well, you see… there's a lot of context that's lost on us, because the stories are told from over two thousand years ago. So we rely on people who studied history of that era to put things into the proper perspective. That includes everything from… little phrases we may not be familiar with to really big things like the politics of a Roman occupied Israel. Then there's just a lot of stuff that people who study religious texts beyond the bible who are far more well-versed in the subject than I, and they give a more complete interpretation."

Michiko stopped and looked at her. "Do you realize what you just told me?" Xaela stopped and looked back, shaking her head. "You just told me that the bible is open to interpretation, which totally contradicts your basic foundational understanding that it's the absolute literal word of God. You also said that the bible isn't all encompassing when it comes to religious matters."

Xaela thought about it for a moment. "Well, like I said. I'm no expert."

"Then should I trust what you say about God, or should I reach my own conclusions?" Xaela opened her inventory and pulled out her bible, and tossed it at her. Michiko blinked and looked back up at her, somewhat surprised. "Umm… how long have you been carrying that around?"

"It was a personal item that stayed in my inventory when the game began," she said.

"And… you just now thought to let me read it?"

"Pearls to swine…" Xaela said.

Michiko blinked at her, and tilted her head. "Are you going to explain that one or just leave me guessing?"

"Well I just gave you a copy," she said. "Why don't you find out what I mean by that?"

Michiko opened it and just looked at the pages. "There's a lot of text in here… it could take a while."

"Well I wouldn't expect you to get through it in one go. You said you should come up with your own interpretation… I want to see what you come up with on your own now."

"And if I come up with a different interpretation?" Michiko asked.

"Different from my own? Then you'll have your own understanding of God."

"I'm curious, Xaela," Michiko said. "Did you ever have the opportunity to reach your own conclusions about it? Or did someone explain it all to you first?"

Xaela thought back. "I suppose I had it explained to me. But I was younger… so it was necessary."

"So you're really not going to tell me any more until I read this whole thing for myself?" Xaela nodded. Michiko said, and nodded back, she put the item into her inventory for now. "Well, I'll get back to you later then." After that, Kirito walked by the two of them. Michiko turned to Kirito. "Hey, Kirito," she said. "Where are you headed?"

Kirito stopped. "I was going to go train," he said. "I haven't done much fighting and I'm still not fully caught up to the higher level players."

"I'll see you around, Zayzay," Michiko said as she walked towards Kirito. Xaela moved on. "Mind if I join you? Maybe we could just head into the snow fields and train against each other."

Kirito nodded. "Sure," he said. "I could use a partner out there, just in case." As he walked on, Michiko walked with him. She wore a heavy winter coat, it was dark green in color and covered up most of her body. After a quick inventory browsing, her special weapon was slung across her back, and she wore heavy armor of black steel, including boots and gauntlets, all but a helmet. Her black hair hang down inside of her coat, and she reached a hand back to pull the hood up. "So how are you and Xaela doing?" he asked.

Michiko sighed. "It's a work in progress. We're trying to convert each other."

"Convert each other?" Kirito asked, looking at her. He wore his signature black coat, and his dual Elucidators were crossed on his back. His armor was not quite as heavy as Michiko's, and allowed for more movement.

"She's trying to turn me into a Christian," she said. She snickered a little.

"And what are you trying to turn her into?"

"A lesbian…" Kirito laughed at that. "Or just bisexual, one or the other. How is your single-ness going?"

Kirito sighed. "One day at a time… I'm waiting for Asuna to be finished with her little adventures, and to come back to me."

"What if that never happens?" Michiko asked.

"It will…"

"Faith…" Michiko muttered. "You've got it. Everyone has it but I don't understand it."

"If we understood faith, then it wouldn't be faith, would it?"

Michiko rolled her eyes. "Oh no, you're not allowed to start getting religious on me. I get enough of that from Xaela every time I talk to her." Kirito laughed a little, and the two left the edge of the city, heading into the snowy fields. Once they got out into the open, Michiko drew her weapon, and opened up her player menu, inviting Kirito to a duel to one hit point. "How are you feeling about you and Asuna? Have you considered doing what she wants you to, and seeing someone else?"

Kirito hit the accept button, and drew his swords. "Considered it… a little bit, but I couldn't take that consideration seriously." He readied himself, and Michiko got low to the ground, holding her weapon in front of her.

"I could use a little company," she said to him. Kirito blinked, and when he did, Michiko charged at him. The problem with Michiko's weapon was the number of ways she could attack. As the flat front of it started to push towards him, he immediately though to go for the obvious move, to side-step and thrust one of his swords into her unguarded side.

The problem with that, as he had seen many people have, was that it was both a shield and a weapon, and she used both hands and could easily move it from side to side as needed. And if his weapon was caught between two of the three blades, it was simple for her to spin the weapon, and parry his attack. He had seen what happens then, a thrust of that weapon into her enemy's head.

He took too long thinking about his move though, and then found out what happened to players who didn't try that. The front of the weapon hit him hard and knocked him back on his ass. "Wow, Kirito," Michiko said. "People have tried a lot of moves on my tri-blade, but you're the first to stand there like an idiot."

Kirito got up, and shook himself off. The hit didn't do too much damage, and he readied himself again. Instead of waiting for her to move, he lunged forward. With his off-hand, he thrust his sword forward, and as expect, the attack was parried, and the blade of her weapon was thrusting at his head.

The mistake, he considered, might be that players who depend on one weapon don't want to risk losing it in a fight. But he had two. He let go of his off-hand weapon, and stepped outside of the attack. His second sword was flung far away, but Michiko's backside was now opened. He swung at her with his main hand, and got a clean hit on her.

"Dropping your weapon," Michiko said. "Another first. Very creative…" She whipped around, and leaned her body off to the left side as she swung the weapon around and over her head at him. He ducked, and swept at her feet with his sword, but she had planned on it. She had already started a jump towards her side, and landed without getting hit.

Kirito looked at her, on the ground—an open target. He went to stab her while she was down, but her weapon blocked the attack, and she rolled back to her feet. He held his one sword close, ready to defend. She moved for him, like the first time, ready to bash him once more. He took a step back, and when he did, she switched her tactic, spinning into his left side exposing her back to him once more. He swung, but as she moved, she held that weapon behind her, blocking that attack.

In another half spin, she faced his backside, and dropped to her knees to sweep his feet from under him. Now on the ground, he tried to thrust his weapon into her. The attack was of course parried away, and with her left hand gripping the blade, she slide it down his sword, and slammed it into his body like a punch. He took heavy damage, and Michiko backed off from him.

"Get up," she said. "If you were a player-killer, you'd be dead three times now." Kirito nodded, and got to his feet. She didn't wait and charged for him. Panicking, he ran back towards his other weapon. She brought her blades up against his right side when, at the last moment, he turned back to face her. The attack caught him off guard, and she knocked his weapon out of his hand. Then, she dropped again to her knees, and slashed him across the chest. When she did, his body turned like that of a hologram, and his health meter read one hit point remaining.

After a few seconds, he became corporeal once more, and his health was restored to fifty percent its maximum. "That weapon is heavy," Kirito said to her before downing a health potion. "Is that why a lot of your strikes go in a downward motion?"

Michiko nodded to him. "It's heavy alright. Takes quick a deal of strength and agility to use properly. Up until I got to higher levels, it was made of tin because the bronze counterpart was too heavy for me to use."

"But it's properly balanced," Kirito said. "Which makes spinning it easy as long as you can lift it up. Its shape is odd… which is why you have to move your whole body when you attack, otherwise you would block your own attack, and take damage from it."

"Yeah," Michiko said. "So many people have figured that part out already. You're behind the curve."

"It's deceptive. It's large and imposing, and can deal a lot of damage, but it's hard to get a proper attack executed with it, and most of those attacks require an over commitment on your part. Let's go again…" Kirito invited her to a duel.

She looked over at him, neither accepting nor declining. "Were you holding back?" she asked. "Studying me for the first round?" Kirito nodded, and smiled at her. "Well then I won't accept this duel unless you agree to my terms…"

"What terms?"

"If I win… you have to take me out on a date," she said.

"And if I win?" Kirito asked.

"We can skip the date and you can take me home instead." Michiko smiled at him. "Don't worry, you won't win…"

"I thought you were more interested in Xaela," Kirito said.

"One date or… one night doesn't mean we're going to be together. Besides, I'd be going into it knowing you plan on eventually getting back together with Asuna. It could actually be a good relationship that way you know. We both love someone else, so we both come to the table with that basic understanding."

"What's the point of a relationship if you know it's going to be temporary?"

"For fun."

Kirito blinked. "For fun? That seems a little…"

"A little what?" Michiko asked. "Slutty? Shameful? Or did you get so wrapped up with Asuna that you forgot the whole point of having a relationship with someone? If that's true… no wonder why she dumped you…"

Kirito furrowed his brows, and glared at Michiko. "If I win… a romantic dinner. You're buying. If you win, whatever your idea of a proper date is. But let's agree not to take it too far either way."

Michiko thought about it. "No farther than a kiss, then. But it better be a good one, because when I beat you, I'm going to want a real kiss…"

"Alright… deal."

Michiko smiled, and hit the accept button. "By the time you and Asuna are ready to get back together, she's going to wonder why she ever left you."

"Oh, so you're going to fix me up and turn me into the ideal boyfriend, huh?"

"You know it!" Michiko shouted as she charged for him. This time she didn't hold back. But neither did Kirito. Instead of going for a bash, she slid on her knees, and held her weapon up and in front of her, but angled back pretty steep so as to cut at his legs while knocking him down.

He was ready for the low attack though, and jumped over her. When the move was finished, he turned around and charged at her. Since she also had to get back to her feet, it took her longer… or it should have. Instead of getting up, she just turned around with her weapon, and held it up high to block his heavy handed attack with both blades.

Once he struck her shield, then she sprung upwards, pushing him and his attack back and knocking him off balance. While he stumbled back, she brought her weapon out wide, at full arm's length, and swung at him. It wasn't till then that he noticed the perfect measurements of her weapon and her armor. The blade came up to exactly below her shoulder when her arm was fully extended.

He ducked out of the way, and saw an opening, but he would have to hit it next time because he wasn't prepared. After her wild swing, she turned around and entered back into her low, squatting defensive stance. Kirito took a step back. He had learned now that the trick was to get her to strike, and to avoid attacking directly while she was ready to block.

When she went up at him, she mixed up her tactics further, knowing full well that he was beginning to anticipate her next move. She left her weapon behind, and surprised him by jumping up towards him, and kicking him in the face. She knocked him to his back, and when she landed, she turned back and grabbed her weapon.

She had to act quickly, and once she had it ready, she jumped at Kirito to swing the weapon wide against him again. He took the opportunity to strike, barely avoiding the attack as he thrust into her gut with his off-handed blade. She was knocked down to sixty percent, and growled at him before moving in to strike again. He wouldn't get another opportunity to do that.

When she approached, she held her weapon across her body with her left hand. He looked, trying to figure out what her attack would be, and finally decided to strike low with one sword, while holding the other up, ready to defend if she went high. But she did neither. She used her right hand to thrust her palm into his nose, knocking him backwards again.

Then, she let go of her weapon and jumped onto him with her shoulder going into his chest. While he was raising his swords to strike, she pulled a hidden dagger from her coat, and stabbed him in the throat, instantly dropping him to one hit point.

After that, she got up, and brushed herself off. A few seconds later, Kirito was returned to half of his health. He panted and looked up at her. "You're just full of tricks," he said. "Aren't you?"

She put her dagger away, and dropped her weapon back into her inventory. "Something Eulsam actually taught me early on… never show someone everything you can do. You never know when you'll need to surprise them…"

Kirito drank another health potion, and stored his weapons again. "Alright, so you won. Where are we going?" Before answering, she grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into a deep kiss. He blinked, surprised at first, and though he still felt conflicted, he went along with it, kissing back.

After a few seconds, she broke it, and let him go. "See…" she said. "Fun. And we're just getting started." She started walking away from the city. Kirito stood there, somewhat in shock. He had never done anything like that with anyone except for Asuna. Yet, something inside of him felt… okay with it. He nodded and started to follow Michiko, and when he did, she started running, and he ran after her.

* * *

><p>"Who do you think is going to win the tournament?" Eulsam asked. He and Asuna were sitting at a table outside of a building that had been built up and decorated to be a fancy looking restaurant. Of course, cooking in the game world was much more simplistic and linear, so there wasn't anything particularly fancy about the foods.<p>

Asuna shrugged as she looked across the table. "Kirito usually has a nag for being the best at whatever he does, but he's still behind in levels, so he may not make it very far. Lisbeth is considered the most powerful player at the moment, maybe she'll take it."

"How'bout yourself?" Eulsam asked. "Your Valkyrie abilities are the highest damage-dealers in the game."

"True," she said. "But most of those are good in PVE situations, instead of PVP. My biggest attack is fairly easy to see coming, and it's pretty much meant for fights against big monsters like bosses. Hitting a player with my lightning spear would be difficult, especially if they move around like Kirito. What about you? Do you think you could win it?"

"If someone else knocks out you and Lisbeth, I think I stand a decent chance," he said. "Kirito is good, but I'm confident that if we locked swords, I could take him out."

Asuna smirked at him, and then laughed a little. "Well I'm torn. I've never seen two dual wielders fight… except just once when Kirito was charmed. I don't think either of you knows how to properly engage another Swordsman class."

"I've seen him in combat a lot. He doesn't hide anything, and goes all out. I've seen every move he can pull off, and that is his weakness." Eulsam took a bite to eat. "Kirito is definitely beatable… no, he could be easy to beat with the right fighting style. Dual wielding relies on lots of speed, and being able to move around an opponent's defenses. If an opponent's defensive moves aren't predictable though, then he might never land a hit."

"So something like Michiko's triple-blade weapon, which is the best I've seen for counter-attacks."

"Or something like the Paladin mode, where there is no way around their defenses. A dual wielder will do tremendous damage to enemies who overcommit when they make a strike. It's a mistake that a lot of players make when they see an opening, or have an opponent at low health… a finishing move mentality that spells out their doom. But for a Paladin with their ability active, they could overcommit with every strike and not have to worry about being hit, giving them a window to deal lots of damage, especially against a target without good armor."

"So if Kirito had to fight Lisbeth, he would lose you think?"

"I would…"

"Would you beat me if we fought?"

Eulsam thought about it for a moment. "Having now considered the improbability that you will hit with your best attacks, I think my dual wielding, or Kirito's for that matter, would be an even match against you. Your biggest advantage in one on one will be the reach of your spear."

"What's yours?" Asuna asked, looking at him with a smile.

"I never reveal all of my moves," Eulsam said. "Not even to significant others…" He smiled back at her, and took a drink of his water. "What do you think my biggest advantage is?"

"Your strategy," Asuna said. "You spend so much time and effort working out a strategy. Even when you're not fighting, you're always playing the tactics game. No one knows what to expect when they fight you, and so anyone who tries to come up with a plan of attack will falter because you've already considered everything they can throw at you. You have thought ahead about how to fight back against it."

"So how would you fight me?"

"I would have to do the improbable… And maybe reveal a secret or two of my own."

Eulsam looked at her and nodded. "Or…" he said. "You're just saying that to try and mislead me in case we do fight in the ring. I'll see to it that we're on the opposite sides of the bracket, so that we might face one another in the final battle."

"Do it," Asuna said. She finished her plate and took a drink. "I feel bad. We haven't talked about anything except for the game and strategy the whole time."

"Don't," Eulsam said. "I started it, didn't I? How do you feel about Kirito right now?"

Asuna looked up at the sky and sighed. "I don't know," she said. "I want to not feel anything right now, and try to enjoy myself, but it's a little harder than I imagined it would be. Why would you bring him up here though? Aren't we on a date?"

Eulsam nodded. "I apologize," he said. "The whole situation is just one that I find to be a little strange. I know we're supposed to be together, but I know how you still feel about Kirito, so I'm in a weird place right now, not sure if we're really together at all."

"We are," Asuna said. "We're just a couple who don't get intimate… We still go on dates, and occasionally enjoy a make-out session. Isn't that enough?"

"Not when you still fantasize about someone who's supposed to be your ex," Eulsam said. Asuna blushed at that. "It's no trouble, Asuna, if you don't want to be together. This was your idea from the start, and I've gone along with it. But if I were to find someone I really liked right now, we'd be through in a heartbeat. I don't feel any real chemistry here."

Asuna nodded, and sighed. "That's fair. I'm just having trouble letting go of Kirito."

"That was also you're choice… maybe it was a bad idea and you should get back together with him."

"No," Asuna said. "As strange as it sounds, I want to get to a point where I can be intimate with someone else first. Because I have to see… if I like that person enough, then I'll want to stay with them, and if that happens I'll be able to find out if I really love Kirito as much as I thought I did."

"You are complicated…" Eulsam finished his food and leaned back. She looked over at her and shook her head. "Asuna, in your situation, there exists only two possibilities. Either you are able to give Kirito up or you are not. If you're trying to figure out if the bond you had with him was real or not, then you shouldn't be trying too hard to keep yourself from testing your limits. The way you act… I don't think you want to let him go. You're still in love, and you should be together."

"Am I trying to hard?" Asuna asked. "Maybe I just need to make a leap of faith, then."

"A leap of faith?" Eulsam asked.

"I'll leave it up to chance. And you…" He looked at her, curious what she was thinking. She took a drink. "If you win the tournament, I'll sleep with you."

He nearly choked on that, widening his eyes. "I…" he said. He shook his head and thought about it. The ball was in his court now, and he suddenly found himself in the position to make the decision for her. Could he do that though? "I'm not sure I want that kind of pressure going in to this thing. I'm not sure how I feel about being the deciding factor in your potential permanent break-up with Kirito. No… I don't like it at all actually. It would be something my father would jump at the chance to do. And it's bigger than you and Kirito. I really don't like the idea of coming between a child's parents."

"Well then," Asuna said. She smirked, thinking this worked out to be a good strategy as well as a good personal choice. "I would like to point out that while we've been dating, you haven't done much to make a move on me, all because of your mixed feelings. Have you considered that maybe I wanted you to try a little instead of just throwing myself at you? You say I am letting Kirito get in the way of exploring other dating relationships, but so are you."

Eulsam nodded, and clapped his hands at her. "A grand strategic move," he said. "And you make a fair point… If you win though, I expect something from you."

"What?" Asuna asked.

"End this. Go back to Kirito, tell him you love him, and forget about trying to enjoy the company of other men."

Asuna stood up and extended her hand to him. "So we have a deal?" she asked.

Eulsam shook her hand and nodded. "I will see you on the field of battle. Try not to get wiped out before we get our chance to fight."

* * *

><p>As the time for the tournament's beginning approached, players started to flock to the Arena town in the Dune Sea. Many players entered the tournament, so much so that the groups who had come together to run it had to create different leagues, so that players would not be facing opponents who they were hopelessly out-matched by. Kirito and his core group wound up in the top league, which was actually the smallest.<p>

When the tournament brackets were posted in the town square, everyone participating went to see them. Bets were being made as each players skills and experience was being posted and discussed. They of course didn't have access to any private information, so it was mostly speculation based on the little bits of data they did have. The tournament boards displayed only levels, vital stats, names and guilds to which players belonged.

"My first fight is against one of the Red Hand player killers," Michiko said as she looked at the board. She narrowed her gaze, and read through the rest of them. "So is Xaela. It looks like they were nice enough to make it so none in our core group fought each other in the first elimination round."

"I'm fighting someone from Laughing Coffin," Kirito said as he read. "They're pitting us against the player killers and—" Kirito opened his eyes wide at two of the names. "Sampson versus Azrealda. Rexem is here too."

"How nice of you to notice," Rexem said. He was standing right near them, but wore different armor. "Looks like I'll get the chance to kill you."

"We won't be killing each other," Lisbeth said. "When we drop to zero hit points, we'll be revived automatically in fifteen seconds. Items won't be lootable. We'll only gain experience."

"Still, I'll be able to kill your avatars at least…"

"You won't make it past the second round," Asuna said, pointing out that Rexem was the fourth name on the left bracket, and Sampson's was the first. "Sampson will defeat Azrealda, and if you're still in the game after round one, he'll beat you too. Then Lisbeth and Sampson will fight, that'll be cute." Rexem rolled his eyes and left the boards. "I'm facing… that one guy who helped in the Dragon's Nest. He'll be an easy kill. And… I don't recognize any of these other names or guilds." Asuna was in the right bracket, along with Klein, Kirito, Michiko and Xaela, but she was so far from them that she wouldn't fight against any of them until the fourth round.

"I'm facing a Laughing Coffin in the first round," Sinon said. "If I win that, I'll fight another player-killer: Red Hand or Laughing Coffin. I wonder if the Death Oath will show up for this."

A loud buzzing sound interrupted all of the chatter, and it was followed by a system announcement. "Attention players," it said. "Rules for the tournament of champions have been finalized. A message has been sent to all tournament participants detailing the rules of the tournament. That is all, thank you."

Michiko opened the message and read through it. There were a lot of detailed rules, but a few major ones caught her eye. "Only weapons of bronze, copper and tin will be allowed, and no armor other than shields. Clothing worn must not cover the head or face of any players, and must not be obscene in nature."

"Wait," Asuna said. "Bronze weapons only? Why is that?"

"We have Silver Steel armaments," Kirito said. "It wouldn't be fair if we went in with those. Plus, with the armor restrictions, we'd be dealing way too much damage."

"But why the armor restriction?" Asuna asked.

"For players like me," Sinon said. "These rules are all meant to keep players from getting any unfair stat advantages from their gear. They also ban enchanted or magically enhanced items. No health potions either. The tournament is all about player skill and they don't want gear to make the difference between victory and defeat."

* * *

><p>A few days after the tournament began, Michiko stepped into the arena. On the other end, a player from the Order of the Red Hand guild stepped in. This player wielded a bronze scimitar, and a bronze buckler. Floating text appeared all around the duel arena. One panel was on either side of the ring, and showed their vital player stats. A floating timer appeared at the ring's center. The players were directed to stand on a glowing platform near their respective entrance, and once they did, their avatars were frozen completely in place until the timer expired.<p>

When it hit zero, Michiko took up her defensive stance, and the Red-Handed player charged forward foolishly. When he went to slash Michiko, she caught his blade in her weapon, and turned her back into him. She cut his wrist badly and his weapon went flying. Then, it was over quickly, she whipped back around and made several successive slashes against the player. The whole duel lasted less than sixty seconds, and players cheered as it ended.

Michiko looked down. There was a dead body before her now. It stayed that way with a health bar reading zero, and blood soaking into the ground. After fifteen seconds, the player's health was restored to full, and he got up. The gates of the arena opened, and Michiko walked back through them. "Hey!" the other player shouted.

Michiko stopped and looked back. "What?"

"You're pretty good," he said. "I'm glad I didn't have that fight out in the real world." He bowed before her, and she tilted her head. This man was a murderer, and he suddenly had honor in this ring… which his guild used to own.

Michiko shrugged and walked onward.

* * *

><p>The next day, after Xaela defeated her opponent in the ring, she caught up to Michiko as she was leaving the arena stands. "Hey, Michiko!" she shouted as she ran towards her.<p>

"Hi, Xaela," she said softly, turning to talk to her. Xaela was silent for a moment. "What it is?"

Xaela blinked and shook her head. She was in outer space for a moment. "Oh, I was just wondering if you had gotten a chance to read anything."

Michiko nodded. "I have read bits and pieces, but a lot of it doesn't make much sense to me, even with what you've told me. I did find that pearls to swine bit though."

"So… you don't get it?"

"No, I do, it just seems a little silly that you used that as an excuse to not even mention that you had it on you." Michiko sighed. "I read quite a bit of the Old Testament laws, and I have to tell you, it looks like everyone is definitely going to hell."

"Yeah it can be a bit overwhelming, I guess," she said.

"I don't get it," Michiko said, shaking her head. "But forget about that, I want to talk about something read in the middle of all those laws about sex and… who you can and can't have it with."

"It's pretty straight-forward," Xaela said.

"Yes, especially…" Michiko pulled out the bible she had been given and looked it up. "Right… here. 'For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people."

Xaela blinked, and held a straight face to that. "Yeah? What about it?"

"Well I remembered how I found you that night, when you were crying to yourself. The night when you got excited that you might be able to uhh… teach me your ways, so to speak. I remembered a little I had heard about conservative Christian families whose parents disowned their children. And then, it all started to make sense to me."

Xaela hesitated, and turned away, she was moving to leave Michiko's side. "I don't want to talk about this… please—"

"No," Michiko said, grabbing her arm. "We're talking about this… I heard what you had to say for weeks and never said much back besides asking questions. You promised you would hear me, and now I need you to keep that promise."

Xaela stopped, and pulled her arm away. "Michiko… it's none of your business."

"I beg to differ," Michiko said. "I still love you, you know. Nothing I've read, nothing you've said has changed that. Since I love you, I have to make it my business. Since it's hurting you, I have to try and help."

Xaela started to walk away, and Michiko kept up with her. "You're not walking away from this, Xaela. It's clear what's happened, especially with how you're acting right now." After a few more paces, Michiko pulled the book back out, looking for something else. "This is all still strange to me, but I've learned something talking with you. You don't speak French, you speak whatever language this book is written in. 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?' You know that bit?"

"Of course," Xaela said. "I know that bit…" She didn't stop, and kept on moving on. "Stop following me, I want to be alone."

"And you know the part about the good shepherd?"

"I've read the whole thing, Michiko. More than once. You're not a shepherd. I'm not your sheep."

"But you're God's sheep, then, right?" Michiko kept up the pace, and Xaela was close to running flat out. Finally though, she stopped. She balled her fists as Michiko stood behind her, and stopped. "You have to believe, at the very least, that God will forgive you… even if I don't really believe in God at all myself. I know it's important to you, and that's all that matters to me. If your family can't forgive you, that's on them… and it doesn't take a bible verse to be able to understand that abandoning you is messed up." Xaela still didn't respond. After a moment, Michiko sighed. "After everything you've been through, and I don't care if it stirs up bad memories, I'm going to remind you. Trapped in this death game, kidnapped, loved ones murdering in front of you, raped, tortured, forced to kill and hurt others. After all of that, your own family forgot you existed all on account of their very narrow, very irrational interpretation of a two thousand year old book. If that same interpretation is the one you're holding on to so tightly, and it is leading you to believe that no matter what you do, you're damned… there is literally no point in believing in God anymore."

At that, Xaela whipped around and slapped Michiko across the face, leaving a red mark. Michiko shook her head, and grabbed Xaela's hand. "This goes one of two ways, Xaela!" she shouted at her, and players nearby had started to take notice. "Face perdition alone while you try to redeem yourself—which you believe is impossible, or you change your beliefs. That doesn't have to mean you stop believing in God, at the least though, it just means you believe that the God you say is a God of love has enough of it in His heart to actually forgive you." Xaela shook and dropped to her knees. "I would choose the latter…" After that, Michiko let Xaela's hand go, and turned to leave the area.

Players stared at her, and she picked one out at random, one who she saw belonged to the Red Hand, and she grabbed him by the collar. "What are you looking at?" she shouted to his face. "You filthy murderer." Right then and there she drew a dagger and cut his throat, leaving him dead on the floor. It wasn't something she would do outside of the Arena Town. Fifteen seconds later, that player got up.

* * *

><p>A few days had passed, and Kirito had won his first round. He and Michiko were in bed together in a private room, about to turn in to the throes of passion. "Michiko," Kirito said.<p>

"Hai?"

Kirito looked up at her, and the moment was suddenly lost with his next words. "I heard about what you said to Xaela the other day."

Michiko stopped, and dropped beside him onto her back. "Fuck you," she said before letting out a deep breath.

"I would never talk like that to Asuna," Kirito said. "Do you still love her?"

"I do," Michiko said. "It's hard to love someone who doesn't love you back."

"You said she did love you."

"She does. Look, sometimes love is harsh. She needs to accept reality, and realize that she's only hurting herself by believing what she does."

Kirito sat up, and looked down at her. "What if you're wrong?"

"If I was wrong," Michiko said. "It wouldn't make a difference. If I'm wrong then we're both going to hell, and there's no stopping it, so she still might as well accept reality and enjoy her life while she can. Why did you have to bring this up, anyways?"

"Xaela told me about her parents," Kirito said. "A long time ago, actually. In her eyes, I was a father who had a loving relationship with the mother of my child. She confided in me because of that. Ever since Asuna and I… well… broke up, she's talked to me a lot less, and when she does, she tells me how wrong it is. She's borderline hateful now that we're together."

"What's your point?"

"You're her last friend, Michiko. Do you know what it's like to be in a world like this without any friends?" She nodded. "Nothing makes sense to her right now. The world is falling apart around her, and she's lost and confused. She needs you, Michiko. Stop trying to get into her pants and be the friend she needs you to be."

"Is that an order, Kirito?" Michiko asked, looking at him with a glint of anger.

"It's an ultimatum," he responded. He got up, and walked over to the door, opening it. "You want to keep doing this," he said as he gestured to the both of them. "You have to fix this first." Michiko groaned as she got up, put on a shirt, and left the room.

* * *

><p>Xaela sat alone in her room. She was looking down at her hands when Michiko walked in. She jumped at first, and drew a sword to defend herself, but upon seeing who it was, she dropped the weapon and curled up on her bed. "Go away…" she said.<p>

"If I gained a level every time I heard you say that…" she said as she sat down on the girl's bed. "Xaela, I'm sorry, okay." Michiko sighed after she didn't get a response. "Okay, here's the truth, I'm just frustrated. I'm frustrated because I've listened to what you had to say, even read some stuff out of that book and you seem to have gotten somewhere with me, but I haven't gotten anything from you. No… no. That's not it…"

"Then what is it?" Xaela asked.

She thought for a moment. "I just want you to stop worrying about what God… your family… the whole damn world thinks about you, and worry about your own well-being. I think that your emotional state right now is just dangerous. And maybe there's a little… or a lot of personal bias because I am trying to flip you, too. But it all comes from the same place…"

"What place?"

"Love… I know it can be hard to believe when I go off on you like that, but it's the result of a lot of mixed emotions. I'm frustrated with you and at the same time I want to protect you, and so your stubbornness about your faith just makes me angry. But that's wrong."

"If you love me so much, then why do you mess around with Kirito?" Xaela got up, and sat down next to Michiko. "Doesn't he love someone else too? You don't make any sense… And you know what does make sense to me? God… God has always made sense to me, but somehow you even make my faith a challenge to understand."

"Love is… crazy. I don't think it's supposed to make sense. Maybe that's why your God doesn't make any sense, at least to me. Maybe you're right and He is a God of love, but love is crazy and so is He."

"I've decided," Xaela said. "I've decided that there is forgiveness, but I don't know much else beyond that."

"Do you still love me?"

Xaela thought for a moment, and then nodded, looking to her. "Yes," she said. "I do."

"Then… do you forgive me?"

"Yes… For yelling at me, and for leading me into sin. I don't forgive you for sleeping with Kirito. It's a shame that you would do that. He loves someone else, and so do you. Even if your love is also twisted and wrong."

"If my love is wrong, then isn't yours?"

Xaela nodded. "I'm not sure how I feel about it. I think it will take time for me to let go of that, and repent."

Michiko smirked, and wrapped an arm around the other woman. "I think somebody's jealous," she said.

Xaela pushed her away. "I am not!"

"No no, you are totally jealous. You don't want me to be with him because it threatens my love for you. The only reason you won't take me right here and now is because you're afraid to. Don't lie to me, if you didn't believe in God, we'd already be together. But right now, you just want to keep me to yourself and not have to sleep with me. Sorry but I'm not going to reserve myself for you if you're not interested in going places I want to go."

Xaela rolled her eyes and leaned against her. "Okay, so maybe I'm a little jealous."

"We fight each other in a week, you know," she said.

"I know…"

"Well let's use our match to settle this, then," Michiko said. "Beat me in the arena, and I'm all yours for… a month. I'll break it off with Kirito and I won't do anything with anyone that you don't want me to, and you'll get me all to yourself, sex or not." Xaela nodded slowly. "But if I win… I get to keep Kirito, continue making you jealous, and you have to give me a kiss."

"A kiss?"

"Yes, a kiss… in the arena after we fight."

Xaela blushed fiercely, and shook her head. "I can't do that," she said.

"What have you got to lose? Who's going to see that you don't want seeing it?" Xaela sighed and fell back from Michiko onto her bed. "I thought so… deal?" Xaela nodded slowly, and extended her hand. The two shook on it.

* * *

><p>When the time came, and Michiko and Xaela faced each other in the ring, they smiled at one another. They watched the timer count down, and when it did, Michiko charged for her friend, but surprisingly, Xaela hadn't even raised her weapons. She took the blow, and Michiko ended her in one shot.<p>

She blinked, and looked at her. After fifteen seconds, Xaela woke up, and stood up. "You win," she said.

"But you didn't even fight!" Michiko shouted, pointing at her.

Xaela shrugged. "I guess not."

"If you wanted a kiss, I would have given it to you," Michiko said.

"Not so much… what I don't want is to pin you down to me like some kind of needy puppy," Xaela said. "I thought it over, and I decided that if I was going to have you to myself, I would wait until I was really ready for it."

Michiko nodded slowly. The players in the stadium were a mixture of confused and humored by the display. "Well, you still owe," she said, smiling over at Xaela.

Xaela nodded, and took a step for her. Before she got close enough, Michiko grabbed her and bent her over, planting their lips together for a few moments. Xaela's cheeks were bright red, but she followed through with her part of the bet, and kissed back. Afterwards, Xaela fled the arena in embarrassment, and went straight up to her room for some privacy. Michiko laughed at that and left her own way.


	27. Chapter 27: The Swordmaster

In the real world, a stadium full of fans was alive with cheering and hollering as hologram projections displayed the fast paced battles of the arena. The events were set up so that in one evening, players from multiple leagues would fight. The lowest leagues would go first, and the last battle every night would be from the top league. Tonight's battle: Kirito versus Klein.

As the two stepped onto the freezing platforms in the game world, the holograms lit up in the real one. The timer turned on, and music played as the battle was about to get under way. "Who are the A leaguers, tonight?" one announcer asked.

"On one end of the ring, we have Klein. Samurai class, level one-oh-four, and in the other end of the ring, the legendary Black Swordsman himself, Kirito! Swordsman class, level one-oh-five."

"The two of them are great friends, aren't they?"

"You heard right. Kirito and Klein have been playing the death game together since Sword Art Online."

"Break down the battle for us… What are we going to see coming here?"

On the screens in the arena, stat pages of the two players showed, one after the other as they talked. Next to those, clips of the players in combat throughout the game appeared. "Klein won't be an easy fight for the hero of Aincrad. Ever since Tartarus, the legendary raid that ultimately led to Kirito's resurrection, Klein has out leveled Kirito, but it looks like he's finally lost his advantage there. In combat, Klein has an amazing lightning quick attack, the Quickdraw ability, and even Kirito has had trouble dodging it. It's most practical use is fighting mobs of monsters, as with each killing blow, he can make another strike, instantly against a new target. One on one, it's not the most effective maneuver, with a whopping five minute cooldown."

"I'd put my bets on him using it as his first move, and using it exactly every five minutes. It may be the only way to get a strike in on the dual wielder."

"That might be so." The screen switched to Kirito. "Kirito's dual wielding has become the most legendary and coveted fighting style since before the game began. He relies on his agility to both defend and attack. He has two know special attacks, the Whirlwind and Starburst Stream, both difficult to defend against, especially for classes that don't use shields."

The timer hit zero and the two charged at one another. "And they're off! As expected, Klein opens up with his quick draw and oooh! What a hit. Kirito is down." The attack knocked Kirito to his back, but he got up quickly. "Back on his feet, Kirito's in for the charge. It looks like he's using his biggest combo hitter, and Klein can't seem to keep up. This is looking like yet another quick battle—"

"Wait a minute! Oh, what is that one?"

"A new special ability from Klein? We haven't seen that one before. He's all over the place, it looks like Kirito can't keep up! Oh, he's down, with just another ten percent to go, and Klein is going to finish him off. Aww, too bad."

"Looks like Klein needs to invest in a new blacksmith." The other announcer laughed. "Without a weapon, this is sure to be quick… Or maybe not! What a display of sportsmanlike conduct. Kirito tosses him his own sword, and now it's just one sword versus one."

"It could be a fatal mistake. There's no telling how long it will be before Klein can pull off another combo like that. Kirito parries an attack, and it's over, with a good hit to the side! That's all for tonight folks, goodnight all!"

Kirito looked down at Klein's dead body. In duels outside of this arena, fought to one hit point, there wasn't a death. Players didn't have to face a dead body when they were finished. Fighting a player killer to the death was no trouble, but Klein was his friend, and he bit his lip and looked away at the sight.

When Klein got up, he stretched, and went to shake Kirito's hand. Kirito shook his head, and then shook back. "What's wrong, champion?" Klein asked.

"Just… seeing your body. It's kind of disturbing." Klein blinked. He hadn't thought about that yet. "Well, good fight."

"You could have had me a lot sooner, Kirito," Klein said as he tossed Kirito's sword back at him. "Why didn't you finish it?"

"There's no point in fighting one of these if you're not going to fight fair."

* * *

><p>A few days later, Lisbeth and Sampson went to join Kirito and Michiko to eat lunch. "Sampson," Michiko said. "Have fun kicking Rexem's ass?"<p>

Sampson shook his head. "Actually, I lost." Kirito and Michiko both looked at him surprised. "I went into my rage without thinking. His Paladin mode lasted longer than my ability, and he was able to fight back without worry of getting hit."

"So… he gets to make it to the semi-finals?" Kirito asked.

Lisbeth nodded, "But so did I, and we're going to be the first match. He won't stand a chance against me."

"I hope not," Michiko said. "It'd be horrible if he made it all the way to the championship round, and I had to be the one to beat him."

"You won't make it to the championship round," Kirito said smugly. "I'm going to kick your ass when we fight."

"Like you have all the times we've practiced?" Michiko grinned at him. "Or were you playing winner dies first?"

Kirito shook his head. "Don't get so cocky. I'll beat you for sure."

"So little faith in the Dragon Queen?" Lisbeth asked. "Whichever one of you wins is going to be fighting me, if… by some miracle, you can beat Asuna in the finals. I doubt either of you could pull it off."

Kirito nodded. "I've thought long and hard, and watched all of her fights so far. I can beat her."

"Right," Michiko said. "Because it was her we went into Tartarus to resurrect…"

"Kirito, get real. Asuna has more damage output than anyone else in the game, and she's level one hundred ten, which means she's already unlocked her third Valkyrie ability," Lisberth said. "Plus, you're a dual wielder. You may be hot shit against other damage dealers, but Asuna is a shield-bearing tank. You won't get a single hit in."

"Lightning Flash Asuna versus The Black Swordsman," Michiko said. "It just doesn't sound like a very epic showdown."

"Black Swordsman versus the Dragon Queen," Kirito said. "Sounds much better. And I hope you haven't forgotten, Lisbeth, that you'll have to face Eulsam in the finals."

"He'll be easier to beat than his daddy," Lisbeth said. "And it'll be great practice for the fight against you, if you make it that far."

"Everyone's making bets on these fights," Sampson said, interrupting. "I wonder if maybe we should be cashing in on any of them…"

"Nah," Lisbeth said. "We don't need to gamble… gambling implies there's fair chance, and we all know that bronze can't beat dragons."

"I got a bet," Michiko said, looking at Kirito. "Whoever loses our fight has to be the other's submissive until the tournament's end. How'bout it, Kirito?"

Kirito waved his hand. "I wouldn't want to force you out of your dominant streak…"

"Kirito," Sampson said. Lisbeth was the one to finish the sentence though. "Did you just tell us that Michiko is your mistress?"

Kirito twitched, and shook his head. "No, not at all! It's a totally mutual thing." Michiko smirked and leaned towards him. Kirito rolled his eyes and held out his hand. "Fine, deal." The two shook on it. Michiko got up afterwards, and went to run off to train.

"See you later, Kirito-chan!" Michiko shouted back. Sampson and Lisbeth laughed at him, and he blushed before getting up and leaving himself.

* * *

><p>More than a week later, Kirito and Michiko entered the ring together, to face one another in combat. They stepped on the platforms that froze them in place, and the timer started counting down. "Now this," the announcer spoke in the real world. "…is a fight we've been waiting for. The Black Swordsman versus the Black Warden. Kirito, level one hundred and nine now, versus the level one hundred and fifteen Michiko."<p>

"Michiko's a rare breed, isn't she?"

"Why yes. Her custom designed weapon comes with a custom style, and while not a single player in the game is aware of her actual class, we're able to tell you right here and now that she is in fact a Witch. Witches specialize in curses, hexes, voodoo and other black magic. Normally they don't use armor or weapons, but Michiko's made it all work out quite nicely, and it keeps her opponents guessing. Something tells me she's going to have to reveal a few of her best kept secrets tonight!"

"And let's not forget the adorable little bet these two have on this battle…" After that, on the screens played a clip of the two engaging in their bet. "I don't know," he said after the clip played. "It seems to me like Kirito might enjoy getting punished by the secretive caster."

"Let's not step on the toes of those True-Lovers out there too much. Michiko's special weapon is a cunning one. Luring players into a false sense of threat, she uses mostly counter-attacks to deal damage, and only rarely makes a big move with her sizeable blades."

In the game world, the two of them took a breath once the timer hit zero. Kirito waited for her to make the move, and she knew he would do that. She moved forward, and Kirito sidestepped out of the way as she tried to bash him. After that, she turned, and swung her weapon at his feet using both hands.

He jumped over the swipe, and then ducked as her next attack had her spun all the way around, and go for his head. When she did that, he slashed with both weapons and hit her waist. She stumbled back, and glared at him. Next, he charged in, leading with one weapon, but pulling it back at the last second when she started to twirl her weapon. He spun around, and to her unguarded side to slash at her again.

She moved fast to block any more incoming attacks and stepped back, her health now at twenty-five percent. From there, she crouched into her defensive stance. Kirito jumped at her, and instead of attacking, he planned out her defense. She pushed her weapon towards him, and he licked it down and into her face with his feet.

"Oh, wow! Looks like Kirito has gotten used to all of her counters! I hope she has a new set of tactics, or else she's done for!"

She recovered without falling, but stumbled back a half a step. As she was balancing out, Kirito charged to attack. He held both weapons wide from his body leaving his chest open, but forcing her to parry one of his two attacks. She blocked his right side, and took a painful thrust into her gut from the left.

After that attack, Kirito flipped over top of her, and struck down on her shoulders with his swords. It was another big hit, but not critical, and she rolled away from him, going back into a defensive state. Her health was below ten percent now. Kirito smirked, still at full health, and charged into a jump.

"Kirito," she muttered to herself. "You fool…" As he was coming down, she spun around, and with her right arm she hurled her weapon at him, and it spun towards him like a giant flying saw blade. He realized his mistake too late, and though he tried to block the incoming attack, the weapon had too much momentum and spun. His swords were knocked to the side, and he was hit. After falling to the ground, he was down below ten percent health as well.

"Oh! What a comeback! No one saw that coming!"

"Normally, she wouldn't be able to do that, a weapon making proper use of her strength would be much too heavy to throw, but with the bronze limit, the much lighter weapon is easy to hurl at an opponent, and it must be impossible to block an attack like that!"

"And in free fall, impossible to dodge."

Now both were on the ground. Michiko ran to recover her weapon, and Kirito got up from the ground, the two charged at one another and screamed in a battle cry. The moment was short lived as the two of them struck each other, and both players went down, dead.

"W-what happened?"

"They're both dead. It's a draw! Can we have draws?"

"I don't know… hang on, we're getting an update from the game masters. Oh, this should be exciting."

"What's that?"

The two players were both revived, and their health both set to one hit point remaining. "Sudden death!"

Kirito and Michiko looked at each other. Michiko smiled, and then so did Kirito. "Looks like we're evenly matched, love," Michiko said.

"Oh, Kirito," Michiko said, taunting him. "You've forsaken your love for Asuna for me?" Kirito shook his head and laughed before charging her. She held up her weapon, and as he got closer, she switched stances, moving to strike him with an upward swing. It would have done the job, except Kirito had a new plan. He tossed both weapons at Michiko, and forced her to scramble to block the attack. By the time she knew what was happening, Kirito was behind her, and as she turned around, she got kicked in the face, dying instantly.

"Kirito wins the sudden death round!"

Michiko got up after her re-spawn, and slammed her weapon into the ground angrily. She got so wrapped up in the fight that she ignored the sudden death mechanics, and didn't anticipate such a simple, low damage move. Kirito came over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She stopped and sighed, looking up at him. "Yes, master?" she said, half-joking.

"Calm down. It was a fair win."

She nodded, and got up to shake his hand. "Good job… I have to admit that you outsmarted me. And well… you win." She turned and left the ring.

Kirito bowed to the crowd before doing the same.

* * *

><p>"Hmm," Eulsam said as the group all came together for dinner. "That's interesting." The other players were all reading the message too.<p>

"Theme songs?" Kirito asked. "Really?"

Eulsam typed in 'Come With Me Now –Kongos.' "Could be cool in the real world, I guess. Don't know how fun it will be when we can't hear it ourselves."

"Looks like the finals got dominated by our group," Eulsam said. "Me versus Lisbeth. Kirito versus Asuna. I'll be sure to watch that battle, Kirito. So I can learn how I might get around Valkyrie's defenses."

"I'd be more concerned with the Paladin mode," Kirito said. "I'll have to watch you and Lisbeth fight so I can figure out how to get past the invincibility mechanic."

"Maybe we'll get lucky and we can fight each other," Eulsam said.

"Yeah right," Asuna said. "Valkyrie versus Paladin all the way. You boys don't stand a chance."

"I'm with Asuna on this one," Lisbeth said. "I haven't even been able to show off my biggest trick!"

Eulsam looked at her, and narrowed his gaze. "Interesting…"

Lisbeth looked back at him. "What?"

"I'll have to research some dragon lore…" Eulsam got up from the table, and left the group, leaving them with a "good luck!"

After that, Lisbeth and Sampson got up and headed off. "See you guys later," Lisbeth said. "Kick his ass, Asuna…"

"You too, Lisbeth!" Asuna and Kirito looked at one another as the others talked. "Kirito," Asuna said after a moment to break the silence. He nodded slowly. "Let's go for a walk…" She got up and left the table and he followed soon after.

"You know there will be a lot of expectations about our battle," Asuna said. "More-so in the real world than in this one."

"I've heard," Kirito said. "They're really blowing things up out there. They've even set the date of our fight to Valentine's Day."

Asuna sighed and nodded as she leaned against a wall. The two were in a much less crowded space. "What do you expect from our fight?"

"I expect us to both fight our hardest, and for the best player to win."

"Noble…" Asuna said. "But I was thinking…"

"Thinking what?"

"I don't want to make it to the final round."

Kirito blinked, and tilted his head. "Why not?"

"A silly bet I made with Eulsam."

"What was it?" Kirito leaned against the wall next to her.

She shook her head. "I'd rather not give the details, but it was me versus him and would go through if either of us won this whole tournament. But I'm not ready for the prize I was to take if I won."

Kirito nodded slowly, only partly understanding. "Then call off the bet."

"No…" she said. "I want him to win. I made the bet with him winning in mind, but I don't want it to seem like I gave it up freely."

"So… you want me to beat you so you don't have to? What difference will it make if you make it easy for me or for him?"

She shrugged. "I don't want to make it easy on you either. I want to fight my hardest and see who wins."

Kirito sighed, and leaned his head back. "Well, I'm not sure what you're asking me to do, then."

Asuna furrowed her brow, and looked at him. "I'm not asking you to do anything! I just… I just wanted to talk about it… that's all."

"Okay," he said. "You know I'll do whatever you want me to, right?"

"I don't want you to do that. I want you to do what you want to." After another moment of silence, she looked to him. "You're enjoying being with Michiko, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Should I not?"

"No, you should. That's what I wanted from the start, for you to explore like I planned to. I heard you two might be… on the kinkier side. More than we ever were."

He nodded and laughed a little. "She likes to have fun when we're together," Kirito said. "That doesn't make you feel awkward though, does it?"

"Of course it's awkward," she said. "I kind of expected that though. You seem to get along pretty well even when you don't. We never did that. We just kind of always got along, and it leaves me wondering… If we didn't get along, would we be the type who would be able to recover from that?"

"Michiko and I come together with a great deal of understanding. We both know that the other is in love with someone else. She with Xaela, and I with you. We know we won't agree all the time, and we're hard on each other and force each other to do the right thing. I don't know if what I feel for her is love, but there's certainly a lot of respect, and a lot of communication."

"Isn't that what a loving relationship is all about?" Asuna said. "Understanding… respect… patience, communication."

"I suppose those are pretty big parts, but in my mind, a loving relationship also involves actual love, and not just in the bedroom. I don't feel for her the same way I do for you."

"Right… we had that. But we didn't have those things you and Michiko have. Or at least I didn't." Asuna frowned and sat down. "It's my fault we're not together. I was… none of those things. I acted irrationally—" Asuna had been cut off by a sudden kiss from the swordsman, and she closed her eyes, enjoying it more the longer it went on, up until after it ended. "We shouldn't do that," she said. "We're both seeing someone else."

Kirito smirked at that, and nodded. "Michiko wouldn't mind," he said. "One of the things we both agreed on when we first started up together was that we wouldn't interfere or grow jealous if one of us spent any bit of time enjoying the company of the one we loved. How would Eulsam feel?"

"He would tell me to break up with him and get back together with you," Asuna said. "He is… all of those things but the two of us have only a little bit of love for each other."

"Everyone's making bets on this tournament," Kirito said. He laughed a little bit. "I think it's silly, but maybe we should have one."

Asuna looked at him, and laughed. "Alright," she said. "If I win… I want you to fall in love with Michiko."

Kirito blinked. "That's… not something you can really force."

"What made you love me?"

He shrugged. "It certainly didn't happen overnight. But it something to do with how we teamed up together, and we learned things from one another."

"What have you learned from Michiko, then?"

Kirito blushed a little and chuckled. "Things…"

"Things?"

"About the female body… and uh… related topics."

"I hope you're not embarrassed by that," Asuna said, turning to him. "What else made you fall in love me?"

"I'm not totally sure. I remember you wanted me to love you, and so that helped a lot. Michiko doesn't want that."

Asuna thought for a moment, and nodded. "If I win, fall in love with Michiko. And once you do, remember why you fell in love with me. What will you want if you win?"

"To be together," Kirito said.

"I… can't do that," Asuna said. "I'm not ready—"

"Just for one night," Kirito said. "A romantic evening followed by a good sleep in each other's arms. Come morning, we'll part ways again and you can go back to Eulsam, and I'll go back to Michiko."

Asuna smirked, and nodded. "Hoping to show me those new things you've learned?" Kirito blushed, and slowly nodded. "Pervert…" she muttered before holding out her hand. They shook on it.

* * *

><p>Before Asuna and Kirito were set to fight, the fight between Eulsam and Lisbeth was scheduled. The two of them had become, arguably, greater heroes than either Kirito or Asuna ever were. Eulsam led the Veteran Protectors Guild, which was massive and devoted to helping players. He was credited for rescuing Michiko, bringing down the Red-Handed, and for maintaining order and justice as well as the defenses of the Kingdom of Newberg. Lisbeth wasn't as famous until recently. She became the first player boss, and is the only player to-date to accomplish such an incredible feat. The long-term effects of her time with Smuldur, the dragon, have left her with skills beyond any other player's capabilities. She had the highest stats of any player in the game.<p>

During the tournament, Sinon had lost to a lieutenant general in the Order of the Red Hand, and in the round following, Eulsam defeated him. He was the only player to date known to have taken an epic boss's attacks solo without healing for any period of time. This was during the Temple of Fire, when they fought the Avatar of Salamandraus and he was split off from the rest of his raid party. He had also led the legendary raid into the depths of Tartarus, and though Asuna outshined him most of the way through, he was credited with being the raid's leader.

In her last battle, Lisbeth took on Rexem, one of the few Paladin classes in the game to unlock their special abilities. Her Dragon Paladin abilities were the superior to his basic class abilities in every way, and with two large wings, a tail, and mastery of flame sorcery, she has been one of the most difficult players to face, capable of striking with more independent attacks than anyone else. Her body had become as deadly a weapon as her sword.

When the timer hit zero, Eulsam charged with dual blades, and Lisbeth unfurled wings and tail. Her first move was a wide reaching strike with a wing, in which she plucked one of Eulsam's weapons away, and her second move was a heavy slam with her large tail, which knocked Eulsam to his knees. When she went to attack with her sword, he had only one weapon to defend himself. He caught the blade and parried it away, only to have to roll out of the way of an attack incoming from Lisbeth's other wing.

Already, he had been damaged. When he rolled, he moved towards his weapon, and picked it up. She leaped at him, and he blocked the incoming attack from her sword, using both of his to stop it in its tracks. After that, he saw an opening. Her wide reaching wing and tail attacks were less viable if he stayed in close, so he did his best to do so. He thrust his blades in around her sword after blocked, and struck her, dealing mild damage. She used her wings to propel herself backwards, and move far from his reach.

He waited for her to attack then, lowering his head and readying his defensive maneuvers. She struck first with one wing, and then the next. When the second attack came, he used both swords to slash right through the leathery texture, and she roared out in pain, withdrawing both wings. Her tail swept his legs from beneath him, and she charged in again, picking up speed fast and actually flying into him as she swung her sword. He was hit and knocked back. She flew over him and landed on the far end of the ring as he got up.

"Flying is unfair," he said to her. She raised a brow, not caring about playing fair. When next he charged at her, she threw her shield at him. While he easily moved around the attack to strike her, she activated her Paladin state, glowing with orange flames. "So is that," he said as his first attack bounced off, and he was forced to retreat.

She flew at him again, slashing him as she went by. The disadvantage of her charging attacks was her speed. She moved so fast that she had less of a chance to hit him critically. Now he was forced only to defend himself as she performed more fly by attacks. After the third, she stopped and threw one of her divine fireballs in his direction.

He leaped out of the way, and it hit the way. When he looked up, he smiled as her glow faded. When she charged again, Eulsam used one sword to deflect her attack, and another to slice at her wing. He cut it clean off, and she roared out in pain once more. She retaliated with a flurry of strikes with just her sword, all of which were easy to parry as a dual wielder.

When he got the chance to strike again, he did, cutting her other wing, and then her tail when she struck with it. Next time he got in close though, she breathed fire on him, and he was dropped to the ground, taking damage until the flames expired. He was below fifty percent now, and she was above sixty.

Lisbeth picked up her shield, and ran at Eulsam. Eulsam watched this, and stepped to her undefended side. With one sword he pushed hers out of the way, and simple held the other one up for her to run into. It sliced clean through her chest, and was stuck in her. She fell to the ground, coughing blood, and her hit points drained to zero.

Eulsam raised both of his weapons and the crowd cheered him on, both in the virtual world, and the real one. In the stadiums of the real world, his new theme music blared over loud speakers. After fifteen seconds though, the cheering stopped. He turned around and she did not seem to be re-spawning like normal. No, her health bar remained at zero and yet, she stood up. "Don't you know, Eulsam," she said. Eulsam went back into a defensive stance. "Dragons have two hearts!" Her health bar instantly returned to one-hundred percent, and her tail and wings reformed as she hovered magically into the air.

"You've got to be kidding me," Eulsam said. She flew towards him and he held up his swords in defense. Now she was really starting to fight. She spun in her attack, and used her wings and tail in succession, getting hits on him and then her sword joined the mix. It was too many to block or deflect, and soon his health started to drop, and she didn't stop until he was at ten percent, and on the ground, on his knees, panting.

Lisbeth took up her sword, and it lit up in flames. He held up his blades in defense, and they were both broken, having taken too much durability damage in the fight. Once his swords were gone, Lisbeth went to attack again. It was then that Eulsam was forced to reveal one of his many secrets, as he pulled out another weapon, a long spear and thrust it into the unprepared dragon's chest before the attack could be finished.

Now, he had truly won, and Lisbeth re-spawned normally. In the crowds, Kirito watched, and he gasped when Eulsam pulled out the spear. Michiko sat with him, and looked over. "What's wrong?"

"Dual wielding takes almost all of your training to master, and he's mastered it. If I were to train another weapon, I would have to train in a secondary weapon. There's no way he should have been able to use that spear!"

Michiko blinked, and looked at Eulsam as he bowed for the crowd, and then before Lisbeth when she spawned back up. "I think you're right. Learning a custom weapon has kept me from being able to learn another primary weapon. But what does that mean?"

"Dual wielding as low as level thirty. Learning how to dual wield and use a spear… he's been keeping a secret for a very long time." After a few moments, Kirito looked to Michiko. "You remember that fight in the Temple of Fire?"

"I'll never forget it."

"There was a time when Eulsam fought the snake alone. I didn't question it at the time, but it should have killed him because there's no good way to block elemental attacks with swords. We couldn't see him past the flames…"

"What do you think about it all, then?"

Kirito shook his head. "I don't know. It doesn't make any sense. A Swordsman class like myself can either master dual wielding, or a shield and sword style, not both. But he would have had to have been using a shield, which would be impossible. No other player class is known to dual wield swords."

"He told me he played Sword Art Online," Michiko said. "I thought you must have already known him. If he was half as good then as he is now."

Kirito shook his head. "I never heard of him… Wait a minute. Someone else told me he didn't get into the game, because he was tied down by real life obligations during the launch."

"Maybe he meant New Aincrad?"

Kirito shook his head. "I don't recognize his name from there, either…"

* * *

><p>Valentine's Day had come, and now Kirito and Asuna were set to face each other in the arena. Before the match, they met up with each other on their way there. A crowd followed them, trying to get their attention for just a brief moment. Even in this world now, they were celebrities. "This is crazy," Kirito said.<p>

"Yep." Asuna looked to him. "Hey, before the fight, instead of bowing to each other," she said. "I want to share a kiss…" He blinked, and then nodded. "Don't think anything of it. It's more publicity than anything."

"Publicity?" Kirito asked.

"Well, don't get me wrong, I'll enjoy it. But it's Valentine's Day. The people in the real world are rooting for our love. And if we can produce something that the studios can sell, it'll mean more money for the players and the families who need it the most."

"I guess… sounds dishonest though."

"Who cares?" Asuna said. "It's got to be a picture-perfect moment, though. So don't screw it up."

"You got it," Kirito said with a smile.

When they went into the ring, before stepping onto the freezing platforms, the two of them approached one another. Asuna leaned in, but only to have Kirito take her and lean her down. She yelled in surprise, but soon found herself enjoying a brief moment of passion with the one she loved. After the kiss, the two went back to the platforms, Asuna even had a little skip in her step she was so excited.

The timer counted down and they were off. Asuna held her shield and spear in a defensive position, and charged at Kirito. Kirito had watched Asuna fight plenty of times to know how easy it is to dodge this move, and simply stepped off to her shield side. When he did though, she pushed her right foot hard into the ground and jumped into him, slamming him with her shield and forcing him away.

Before he could balance himself out, she turned and swung her spear wide, first at his feet, and then twirling around to hit his head. He jumped over the first attack, but the spear was much faster than Michiko's weapon, and it hit him mid-air, knocking him down. He took minimal damage.

After that, she got back into her defensive hold, and smiled at him. He got to his feet, and she let him ready himself before moving in with another charge. This time, he knocked her spear to the side as he stepped into her attack, and thrust his second weapon into the small opening left. He hit her, but barely, and dealt minimal damage back to her.

After the attack, she was up close to him, and quickly dropped her spear to grab her sword. It was too late, and he had her in the worst spot, striking several times at her undefended front, and knocking her back to the ground. Now she sat at seventy percent health.

He allowed to her to get to her feet and get ready to fight once more. Her shield was large, and wide. When she held it up, it blocked off nearly her entire body, but this made it a problem if she moved her shield too far away, and let someone get inside of it, like she just did.

"Your spear," Kirito said before moving. "Pick it up." Asuna blinked, and looked at him funny. "We fight at our best, and I wouldn't dream of beating you when you weren't fully equipped."

Asuna nodded to him, and sheathed her sword to go pick up her spear. She went back to her defensive stance, and looked at him. "You're really too kind," she said. "You'll regret it!" She charged at him, and he backpedaled before using his off hand to knock her spear away again. When he went to strike as before, she turned her shield into a strike, much similar to the fashion that Heathcliff had done all those years ago, and knocked him back.

He got up quickly as she had switched to her sword, and was coming down hard from a jump. He thought quickly, and remembered Michiko's attack when he did the same. He threw a sword at her, and hit her arm, causing her to miss him when she came down. Now she was opened, and with his second sword, he cut her foot, and then kicked her away.

She looked down at his sword, and instead of offering it to him, she tossed her shield to the side. "Fair's fair…" she said. It would be easier to fight her sword versus sword instead of shield and spear versus his dual swords.

Kirito nodded, and charged with his one blade. She met his strike, and the next, and the two marched back and forth on each other parrying blocking and countering attacks. The clanging went on for a full minute before Kirito backed away. "Afraid?" Asuna said.

"Never," Kirito said.

"You should be…" Asuna activated her Valkyrie state. The halo and wings appeared around her form, and he eyes glowed. Kirito was ready to defend her next strike, but instead of charging, she screamed out as her sword crackled with lightning, and just with a wave of her weapon, a lightning bolt hit Kirito, dealing ten percent of his health in damage. He was knocked back, and then another hit him while he was on the ground. A third hit him again and he screamed as his body rocked from the shock.

The sword still sparked, and she was getting ready to strike again. Kirito acted quickly, and charged at her. She was forced to defend with her weapon instead of hitting him with another lightning bolt. The electricity however channeled through his weapon, and he was hit again. Now her lightning finally seemed to fade. "Lightning Spear I took as my first major Valkyrie ability, because we were going into Tartarus. But when I hit one hundred and ten, I decided I should prepare for something a little more PVP oriented. Lightning Sword suits me well, doesn't it?"

Kirito got up slowly, having dropped his sword. "Must admit… caught me off guard."

"Your weapon, Kirito." Still in her Valkyrie state, her eyes glowed, and when she talked, her mouth appeared filled with electricity.

Kirito nodded, and opened his inventory to take out a new sword, afraid of touching the last one. She charged him, and the clanging continued. This time, however, he turned to back up towards his second weapon that he had dropped earlier. When he got close enough, he rolled and grabbed it on his way up.

She frowned, and rushed to grab her shield. "Take your time," Kirito said. "Fair game, right?"

Asuna nodded, and then charged at Kirito. He fought, blocking attacks for the most part, but occasionally making a strike, if only to force Asuna to block or parry his attacks. He waited for her Valkyrie state to expire, and when he glow vanished, he smiled.

"Why are you smiling?" Asuna asked. "I'm winning still!"

"You haven't seen my newest attack," he said. She blinked, and suddenly jumped back into her defensive stance. "Blade Dancer's Fury!" he shouted. He charged, and rushed with incredible speed. She parried the first blow, and when Kirito attacked again, he knocked her weapon away. When he struck, he struck with so much force that his weapons were breaking on impact, but likewise, her shield was taking dramatic amounts of durability damage. She used her shield to block further attacks, but when she stepped back, and as he charged forward, he threw on of what was becoming many swords.

One attack after another, he attacked her shield until it was destroyed, and when that was done he started thrusting blade after blade into her. Every one he let go of was replaced by another until finally, he was down to the last two and she was left standing there, a multitude of his swords sticking through her. Finally, he slashed across her with both swords, and knocked her back. The swords within her all vanished, and her health dropped to zero in one attack.

Kirito sheathed his two blades behind his back, and after fifteen seconds, she was back to life. Kirito held out his hand to help her up, and she took it. "That was… what was that?" she asked.

"Blade Dancer's Fury," Kirito said. "Allows me to put so much strength into my attacks that my weapons break on impact, but in return, it deals massive amounts of durability damage to whatever armor or weapons they hit. It also allows me to instantly redraw a weapon once one of them is destroyed or leaves my hand."

"How much damage was that?" Asuna asked.

"I wasn't paying attention to that when I fought you. But when I tested it, I was able to deal over a hundred points of damage per second."

In the world of Vearth, a hundred points of damage was a lot. A player's health would never increase much, even as they went up in level, which made the game more skill oriented and less stat based. A low level player could score a lucky, critical strike against a player of a much higher level and win. The only thing that really did matter was damage reduction from armor. Even high level players without armor were vulnerable, which was one of the biggest reasons armor wasn't allowed in the tournament.

"A hundred points of damage per second?" Asuna asked. "I only have eleven hundred hit points… And in Valkyrie state, only an extra twenty points of passive regeneration. That's…"

"The highest damage attack in the game," Kirito said, smiling. His energy was nearly at zero however, after using the attack to win the battle. He held Asuna, and kissed her once again. She kissed back.

"Tonight, then?" Asuna asked, smiling up at him. He nodded, and let her go, twirling her around as they parted ways and left out of their proper gates.

* * *

><p>Michiko and Kirito met after the battle, just outside of the arena. Michiko didn't say anything at first as they walked, and just hummed a little as she stared forward awkwardly. "So, what was all that about?" she asked suddenly.<p>

"What was all what about?" Kirito asked, looking at her.

Michiko stopped, and so did he. She looked at him and took a deep breath. "The kissing, and the dancing and twirling and all the flirting. Are… are you getting back together again?"

Kirito shook his head. "Not exactly."

"Not exactly?"

"We decided to join in on the bets everyone else was making," he said. "I won her for the night…"

"Won her? Like you did me?"

He shook his head and laughed. "No… not that way. She promised to give me a night together with her. It's more romantic and less… less…"

"BDSM?" Michiko asked. Kirito nodded. "Yeah I may have gotten carried away with that one. It's been fun though."

"I know you like it," Kirito said. "It's not really my thing though, I hope you know."

"Is it Asuna's thing?" Kirito shrugged. "Oh my gosh, Kirito! How do you not know whether or not Asuna is into that stuff? You should ask her."

"Absolutely not," Kirito said.

"Why not?"

"Because…" Kirito thought about it. "I love her, and I prefer to be romantic with her instead of… whatever it is we have going on."

Michiko blinked at him and sighed. "Maybe she wants something besides romance all the time, huh? You're both adults. You love each other and are… practically married. You're allowed to shake things up a little bit."

"This is kind of awkward to talk about."

"Listen to me," Michiko said. "If there's one important thing to take away from being with me, it's that you shouldn't have to feel awkward talking about sex. It's a normal thing… Why does everyone I love stigmatize sex?"

Kirito blinked. "Love?"

She shook her head. "Oh, wow. I just said that I guess… Now that… that's awkward."

"So you love me now?"

"I—I don't know. Maybe?" She sighed. "I don't want that to change what's going on between us. Please don't think of me any differently for that."

Kirito nodded slowly. "It's fine, and I'll try not to. I can't help but feel that I might be getting between you and Xaela now."

"Maybe we should try that sometime," Michiko said with a devious smirk.

"On that note," Kirito said. "I'm going to go meet up with Asuna. See you later!"

Michiko sighed as he left, and slapped herself in the face. "Baka!"

* * *

><p>Kirito and Asuna flew all the way to Oasis Plateau for their night, returning once again to Asuna's suite in the Temple of Gaea. They started the evening by sharing a dinner together, and Asuna, as always, cooked a delicious in-game meal. They ate, and laughed and had a good time. For the moment, the complications in their relationship were gone.<p>

After they finished their meal, they cuddled up with one another on a couch, and Kirito held Asuna in his arms. "I miss this," Kirito said. "I miss being together, just us and no one else."

"I know. I miss it too."

"Then why are we doing this?" Kirito looked down at her. "Pretending not to love each other while we sleep with other people, and make it so that our relationship is the cheat."

"It's different. It's a little exciting, and I think I'm starting to feel the spark we had reignite the flames of our passion."

"Could you sound any cornier?"

"I thought you liked that kind of talk." Asuna looked up at him.

"Sorry," Kirito said. "Michiko's starting to rub off on me a little bit. She's sarcastic and rational, so she usually laughs at anything romantic I try to do or say."

Asuna rolled her eyes. "Michiko's rubbing off on you alright," she muttered. The two of them laughed a little bit. "So… are you going to tell me about all of the fascinating features of the female form?"

Kirito snickered and nodded. "Not right now," he said. "I'm enjoying this too much. There aren't any moments like this with Michiko, and I don't love her so even if there were, they would fall flat."

"I haven't done anything with Eulsam," she said. Kirito looked down at her. "It's true. We've kissed a few times, but I haven't had the courage to take a step farther with him."

"Oh," Kirito said. He thought about that for a moment. "If I knew that, I would have held off with Michiko."

"No. I'm glad you didn't."

"Why do you say things like that? I don't understand why you're happy that I'm forsaking you."

Asuna took a breath. "Long story short, I want you to choose me, and I want to choose you."

"I don't understand. Haven't we already?"

"No… we grew into each other, and never saw anyone else before this. We didn't have any options. I want to know what it's like to have options, and if I do, I'll know why I chose you over everyone else."

"Between a woman I love and a girl I'm just screwing around with, it's not exactly a hard choice."

"I know. That's why I want you to fall in love with her."

"Are you in love with Eulsam?"

"No."

"Then maybe it wasn't meant to be."

"That's what your fight will decide," Asuna pulled away from him, and looked him in the eye.

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't tell you our bet. If he wins. If he beats you in the arena and claims the title of champion, I'm going to go farther with him than I have. There won't be anything he and I haven't done that the two of us have."

Kirito smirked. "Good luck getting pregnant here…"

Asuna blinked, and nodded slowly. "I guess we won't be going quite as far… But still. You get my point?"

Kirito nodded. "Asuna, tell me one thing. Is that what you want?"

"I want you to decide for me."

"And if I can't beat him?"

"Maybe you and fate together…"

* * *

><p>The Friday after Valentine's Day, the Arena was prepared for the final showdown. The sun rose and players worked on it, making it look nice and making sure everything was set properly. There wasn't much to be done in-game, but in the real world, things were getting much bigger. A huge stadium was constructed in very little time, the first stadium dedicated to displaying the events of the virtual world to a live, public audience. The seats were sold, and come nightfall, the new building was packed full of people.<p>

The news was all abuzz about the upcoming fight. People expected Eulsam and Kirito to get far, but most people had placed other players as the competitors in the final showdown. Lisbeth was highest in the rankings, Asuna was second, and then Rexem, then Sampson, then finally, Eulsam and Kirito. Nonetheless, it was brilliant for marketing. The epic showdown, dual wielder versus dual wielder.

In the game, Kirito visited the Arena before the event was ready to commence. He looked around, and smiled. This new world, he decided, he like a lot more. A world where the gamers and champions of the virtual world were as popular as the sports stars and celebrities in the real one. When all this ended, it was looking to be a promising new profession.

Eulsam also came to the arena. "Kirito," he said, calling out to his opponent.

Kirito looked over to him, and waved. "Eulsam" he said. "It's a good day to fight… isn't it?"

"It's not raining or snowing. There's no sandstorms blowing in. But that's a bonus to hosting a tournament in a virtual world, where weather patterns are pre-programmed."

"Hai."

"Asuna told me that she told you about our wager," Eulsam said. "But do you know what would have happened if she won instead of me?" Kirito shook his head. "I didn't think she would."

"What was it?"

"You'll have to ask her that yourself," Eulsam said. "I hope you don't plan to forfeit, to satisfy her wishes. I don't want this to be easy."

"Back down from a fight?" Kirito asked. "You forgot who you're talking to."

"Perhaps, but so have you." Kirito looked at him. "How much do you remember from Sword Art Online, Kirito?"

"A lot. I watched people die. Someone told me you played, but I wasn't sure what they meant, because someone else told me you never signed on the day of the launch."

"Was it fun?"

"Fun? It was awful."

"No it wasn't."

"People died."

"You fell in love. You saved the players. You became who you are today. It made for one hell of a story."

"If you made it, do you think you would have survived? Would we have fought together on the assault team?"

Eulsam nodded. "Oh how I wish we could have fought side-by-side, Kirito. I would have loved to be a part of that history, but I missed me chance. I see being here today as both a blessing and a curse."

"Why do you say that?"

"My father has been exposed for the monster he is. I have helped countless players survive and saved lives. I have become a hero myself, and I became friends with the legendary Black Swordsman."

"Thanks," Kirito said. "So you played in New Aincrad?"

"A little," Eulsam said. "Somehow, after knowing what I missed out on, it seemed so much less amazing."

"I know what you mean."

"When we fight," Eulsam said. "Will you fight to keep your love from being with me, or will you fight to earn the title of champion?"

"Both."

"So you're as motivated as ever. Good. I want to fight you at your best."

"And I hope you are too. For which reason do you want to win?"

"Both… I was always jealous of you, Kirito. It never affected me because I always had bigger problems. I felt good about saving you in Tartarus. I felt good about joining you on your quests. I feel good now that the two of us have made it to the championship, and I am elated at the thought that I might be better than you. You were the hero. You saved everyone. You got the girl. I am jealous that you found love in Aincrad while on an epic adventure. I had dreamed of one day doing the same."

"Do you love her?"

Eulsam looked at Kirito, but didn't answer before walking away.

* * *

><p>Kirito and Eulsam met in the arena later that day. Before stepping into the freezing surface and initiating the countdown, Kirito stopped and looked over at Eulsam. Eulsam stopped to, already knowing that Kirito would have something to say. He wasn't sure exactly what, though.<p>

"I want to know," he said. "Your secret."

"Go on," Eulsam said.

"People have mixed stories about what you told them about Sword Art Online and about Aincrad. When you fought Lisbeth, you wielded a spear, which should have been impossible for a Swordsman, the only know class that can dual wield swords, which also shouldn't be accessible at level thirty, when you had it. You regret missing out on the first Death Game, and always dreamed of being a hero after that. I'm missing something about you. Something big, and I thought about it all day, where I might have seen you before. I have to know… what is it?"

Eulsam sighed, and nodded. "I had hoped you would have figured it out on your own, Kirito. It would have been much sweeter for you to realize the answer without help. How much do you remember about Sword Art Online, Kirito?"

"You asked me that earlier. My answer hasn't changed?"

"Tell me, Kirito, in the beta test, how high did you end up going?"

"In the beta?" Kirito asked. "Eight floor. I wasn't nearly as good as most players in the beta. I was surprised the top beta players didn't beat me when the death game began."

"They were missing something, I bet…"

"Like what?"

"Leadership…" Kirito blinked, and then it began to dawn on him who Eulsam was. Eulsam opened up his player menu, and tapped quite a few things. "I apologize, Kirito… for never formally introducing myself." He slid a player information screen over to Kirito's view.

Kirito read it, and his eyes widened. In front of him was a player achievement, the type that one could carry from game to game to show off accomplishments, and right there it was. This one however was different, a personalized achievement written as a letter of commendation. "Thank you," Kirito read. "For participating in the Sword Art Online Beta Test. And a personal congratulations to you and your guild on your accomplishments in clearing the first fifty-seven floors before the official release of the game—higher than any other player. Signed—Kayaba Akihiko. P.S. I will see you at level 100." Kirito gasped and cleared the achievement out of view. Eulsam's player stats read level one hundred and thirty-nine, and his class: Swordmaster.

As Kirito looked up, he saw Eulsam was equipping more weapons. Across his back now was a longsword and an axe, crossed beneath a large shield, as large as Asuna's in size. Along the middle of his back there was a bronze spear. On his hips were another sword, and a hammer. In his boot was a dagger, and on his arms were what appeared to be retractable fist-type weapons: claws that when pushed forward would extend over his hands by a whole foot. "Every ten levels," Eulsam said. "The Swordmaster class can gain access to any known fighting style. At level one hundred and thirty-nine, I have practiced thirteen different fighting styles. Swordsman—Dual Wielder was my first choice at level ten. But since I've also had Valkyrie, Paladin, Knight… even Michiko's custom style was within my grasp at level ninety. I don't get any of the special abilities those classes offer, but I don't need them…"

Kirito looked up at Eulsam, and was quickly trying to think: did he know all of the style he needed to in order to win this fight? Eulsam could suddenly counter every move he knew, and had a counter for every move he could perform. Worse, he knew dual wielding, and so he knew all of Kirito's own moves. This fight, he thought, would be the most challenging… no… it would be impossible!

"Kirito," Eulsam shouted across the ring. "Due to a stroke of pure luck on your part, you stole the spotlight. You won my glory and my fame. Perhaps my jealousy is petty, but I must honestly say before we fight today, that despite everything, it has been nothing but an honor to fight with you. But now, it's time to reclaim my throne…"

The crowd was going absolutely wild at the revelation. Not a single person in the game knew a thing about the Swordmaster class except for Swordmasters, and Eulsam had kept everything hidden well. He stepped into the platform, and Kirito did the same. The timer started counting down, and mentally, Kirito prepared himself.

When the buzzer rang, and the fight was set to begin, Eulsam first pulled out dual swords to fight against Kirito, who charged forward. Kirito wasted no time in pulling out his special abilities, and he opened with his most powerful—the devastating Blade Dancer's Fury. Eulsam matched it, blow for blow, in a display of unbelievable dexterity, blocking and parrying incoming attacks with his dual swords. He knew it was only a matter of time, however, before they would shatter under the heavy hits.

When one of those blades shattered, Eulsam jumped backwards. He had planned for this, after seeing Kirito use it against Asuna, and put his remaining sword away to draw out a variant of Michiko's tri-blade. This was different however, in that the blades pointed straight outward, and were not curved. The shield part was much smaller as well. He twirled it around, blocking incoming thrown swords.

Kirito caught up to him, and Eulsam could see that he was almost out of energy by now. He used the shield portion to take the brunt of the damage, and Kirito broke through it. Except the whole weapon did not shatter. Only the central part of the weapon did. When Kirito saw this, he deactivated his ability to conserve his energy, which he would sorely need in this battle. After the shield of the weapon broke, the three blades fell, and Eulsam grabbed two of them, using them as dual swords.

Kirito's attacks were heavy handed and wild. Eulsam's secondary blades were weaker than his main weapons, but much lighter. Kirito's strength fueled blows were a strategy. Even without his ability active, he could still break Eulsam's weapons. Eulsam knew this, and so most of his defensive measures were to parry and deflect attacks. He kept this up for a while, and backpedaled, getting Kirito to follow him away. He waited for an opportune moment, and it came.

Kirito saw Eulsam's swords about to break, and he lifted both of his weapons to strike hard over his enemy's head. Eulsam held the swords up and they shattered. As they did, he ducked from the attack, and whipped around Kirito to grab the third blade from the ground. Then, he equipped his remaining main weapon.

Kirito looked back, and moved in for more attacks. The two of them were of course fast. Those watching could hardly keep up with the spins and strikes of their weapons. In the real world, slow-motion replays of key strikes were shown on the screens around the stadiums—those stadiums that had such screens.

After a few more seconds of using his dual swords, Eulsam pushed forward, throwing Kirito's hands back, and sheathed both weapons as he took steps away from the Black Swordsman. As he did, he drew out a spear and shield, and assumed a Valkyrie stance, although without the electrifying abilities and heavenly effects, it was much more like that of a Greek Hoplite or a Spartan.

When Kirito would charge forward, Eulsam would randomly alternate between stepping back and thrusting forward with the spear. At times, Kirito would swing a sword to parry a spear thrust that never came, and at other times, he would find himself attacking with both swords only to take a minor hit to the side.

Finally, Kirito spun in a whirlwind towards Eulsam, knocking both spear and shield out of the way and dealing a little bit of damage. Now inside Eulsam's shield, he was in a position to deal lots of damage. Of course Eulsam was no Valkyrie. As soon as his defensive stance was lost, he dropped both shield and spear, and quickly threw his claw weapons out to his fists. Their short range made them better for his defenses, and knocked incoming attacks away.

In fact, Kirito was now too close to him, and Eulsam slashed and stabbed with those claws. Blood splattered once, and Kirito was first to jump back from an attack. It was an endurance fight. Both of them had incredible agility, and so most of the both of their attacks were stopped or avoided one way or another.

Now too far for claws, Eulsam jerked his arms back, and the claws retracted. He pulled had to go through his inventory again to pull out a pole-arm weapon. It had a large handle with a spike on one end, and on the main end was a huge square blade. Then, he pulled out his weaker sword, and charged at Kirito.

Kirito had to slide to one side to avoid an attack with the pole-arm. With one sword, he parried Eulsam's strike with the short sword, and went to attack the swordmaster with his second blade. He struck for minor damage, and it was a mistake, as Eulsam swept wide with that huge weapon, and cut Kirito badly on the side while knocking him away.

Kirito's energy was drained, but Eulsam's was going low as well. When Kirito stopped to take a breath, so did Eulsam. Both players were still above eighty percent health, but Eulsam's was slightly higher. Once Eulsam's energy was maxed again, he attacked, cutting down with that larger weapon, and then using the sword to parry two of Kirito's incoming attacks.

Eulsam twirled around with his pole-arm, and Kirito was forced away. Once he was away, Eulsam put those two weapons away, and retreated back to pick up his large shield. With the shield in hand, he went back to his inventory to equip a bastard sword.

Kirito moved to attack once more, activating his Starburts Stream, and slashing away wildly at Eulsam. Eulsam used his shield to block most of incoming attacks, but used the heavier sword to deflect and parry others away. Kirito managed a few hits, and Eulsam stopped the surge by turning his shield to a weapon, and smashing Kirito with it. When Kirito was knocked back, the swordmaster held his shield high and brought the large sword down over his head in a chopping motion. Kirito rolled from the attack, and then struck at the blade, knocking it from Eulsam's hands.

Eulsam put the shield back onto his back, and quickly accessed a claymore from his inventory. The weapon was like Azrealda's, but was square in shape. Kirito charged, but then ducked under an incoming high attack by Eulsam. He though he had him there, but Kirito found himself having to quickly get up and jump out of the way as Eulsam kept spinning and brought the massive sword into a low sweep.

Before Kirito could charge again, his opponent had the claymore held in front of him, and its size acted like a huge shield, covering the front of his body. Kirito went forward. Eulsam faked a step to the right, and Kirito went left. But then, the massive sword came across and hit Kirito hard, knocking him away. The Black Swordsman looked at his health bar, and read it was now below fifty percent. Eulsam had yet to take a major hit.

Eulsam put the claymore away, and drew his axe, and moved over to again pick up that shield. It couldn't last much longer, Kirito figured. He landed a lot of hits on it, and it was getting in the way. Kirito re-triggered his Blade Dancer's Fury, and went after that shield with everything he had. Hits upon hits, and Eulsam was forced to back up slowly before he could get a strike in.

In a move of desperation, Eulsam swung his axe low at Kirito's feet, and knocked him down. He had him, he thought. He dropped the shield and used both hands to bring the axe down hard on Kirito, but missed, and the over-commitment would cost him dearly. Kirito simply rolled out of the way, and when he got himself up, he was able to get five serious blows in on Eulsam, and finally, Eulsam was dropped down to forty percent health.

Time was up, and Kirito had burned himself out. It gave Eulsam the chance he needed, and he ran over to grab the near-by spear, and drew his good sword. He charged at Kirito, his energy nearly full as getting hit and blocking attacks doesn't consume nearly as much as Kirito's special attack. While Kirito was catching his breath, Eulsam jumped into a strike, hitting first with his sword, and then with his spear, both coming down at an angel from Eulsam's right side.

Kirito was fortunate to block the spear instead of the sword, because it nearly hit his head and would have been a fatal blow. After Kirito got up, he used another Whirlwind to get Eulsam to back up, and then went on the attack. Eulsam dropped the spear in favor of dual wielding blades once again.

The swords clashed, and the two couldn't hit each other. Eulsam's energy was still healthy, and Kirito could barely keep up. Finally, Kirito faltered, and fell as Eulsam struck. He knocked one blade from Kirito's hand, and then brought both weapons down in a chop, dealing massive damage, but not before Kirito got his own remaining weapon up. It stabbed Eulsam, but he backed off before it dealt too much damage.

"Kirito!" Eulsam shouted. "You fight with great valor! I salute you!" Then, Eulsam redrew that Claymore, and brought it down with its reach over Kirito's head. He rolled away at the last moment, but when he went to try and block the next attack, Eulsam knocked his last weapon from his hand. "It's over!"

Kirito shook his head. "I have lots of these…" He quickly jumped back, drawing two more swords, and charged back at Eulsam, activating his Starburst Stream and furiously swiping at Eulsam. By the time the combination ended, Eulsam's claymore was no more, and the both of them sat at less than five percent of their total health.

Kirito was out of breath again, and Eulsam screamed as he just tackled him to the ground. He punched him in the face, and Kirito threw him off of him. Eulsam redrew his claws and went for Kirito. At long last, it was over, as Eulsam's claws drove into Kirito's chest, leaving him with zero hit points.

Eulsam fell back, and panted as the crowd cheered. Eulsam sat up, and now that the battle was over, he downed a series of health potions. When Kirito spawned he went over to Eulsam and shook his head. "That was one hell of a fight…" Kirito said.

Eulsam stood up, and bowed before Kirito. "When it came right down to it," he said. "You would have beaten me if we were the same level. I hope you fight like that all the time."

"Only when it matters," Kirito said.

"I am an honorable man," Eulsam said to him. "You know the bet that has been placed, but I know your situation. Since you have fought so well, I will honor your love for Asuna, and call the bet off if that is what you wish."

Kirito shook his head. "That's between you and Asuna. She wants this, and since I love her, I have to respect that. You never answered me before…"

"What was the question?"

"Do you love her?"

Eulsam looked up at the sky, and then back to Kirito. "Yes… You two deserve each other, though. You are the one who has saved her so many times, and I missed my chance to be the hero of Sword Art Online. That title is forever yours regardless of my status in the beta. I promise I'll protect her as you have, and that one day I'll see to it that she gets back to you. I still don't understand how you're okay with this. I suppose I am grateful that you don't hate me for it. It makes you a better man than I."

"Promise me something," Kirito said as he started to walk away. "Don't leave her until she's ready. That's what she keeps telling me."

"Only if you promise that one day, you will take her back. If not for your own sake or for yours, then for your daughter's!"

"Sounds like a deal!" Kirito shouted before heading out of the ring.

Up in the stands, Michiko turned to Asuna and laughed a bit. "Lucky you…"

"What?" Asuna asked.

"You got two of them… You should make them kiss next time instead of fight." Asuna laughed and nodded. "Maybe I will."

* * *

><p>"This ceasefire has served us well," a man said. He stood on the deck of a wooden ship. "Those idiots thought we wouldn't make any plans for as soon as it ended." His hand was painted red, and as he looked out onto the ocean he saw his fleet, at least a hundred ships headed northward.<p>

"Across the sea, the Fleet of Red heads for the southern shores…" another man said.

"And across the land, the monsters and pillages march for their western front. Newberg will be ours."

* * *

><p>"The fools," GothGod said as he looked down at the Arena from the distance. At the end of his staff there was now a large curved blade that seemed to drip something black. He heard the cheering and the racket from there, on the mountaintop to the north. Around him were his Death Oath, wearing their plague masks as always. A loud shriek came from behind them, followed by the sound of flapping wings. "They celebrate and party, and squabble over insignificant things. They have no idea what's coming…"<p>

From behind, a pair of decrepit looking wings carried a large dragon from the pit behind them, and behind that one followed another. Their names were labeled above their heads: Wrath and Ruin. And behind them more were flying.


	28. Chapter 28: Rise of the Black Prophet

In the real world, at the IVRTF headquarters, Seijiro met with Director Kojji in his office. The tone was much more casual than usual. Kojji's office was of a moderate size, and had a window looking out on the city of Tokyo. There was clutters of papers lying around, and he was in the process of cleaning up.

"The US has restored funding," Kojji said. "Whatever tension arose was short lived, and they've started an investigation into the CIA's involvement in the game."

"That's good news," Seijiro said as he drank from a mug of coffee. "Will we be allowing their agents back into our offices?"

The director nodded. "Zimmar won't be returning though. Someone else will be coming to replace him."

Outside the office, everything suddenly became hectic. People were running around and there was a feeling of excitement in the air. Seijiro looked out to see it all, and as he opened the door, someone else came in. "Director, sir!" she said. "We found them." Kojji stood up, and the two left the office.

* * *

><p>In the game world, it was early morning and the sun was starting to rise. In the central building of Newberg, the headquarters of the Veteran Protectors, everything was normal. Eulsam and Asuna shared a room together. It was large, and the sun shined into the bedroom during the morning. Asuna leaned down from her position on top of Eulsam and the two of them shared a kiss. Her long hair hanged down to the bed, and concealed their faces.<p>

Without warning, the door swung open and a ranking officer of the guild barged in. Asuna grabbed the covers and moved off to the side. Eulsam shot up, and turned to his lieutenant. "Can you knock first?" he shouted at him.

"Sir!" the soldier said back. "Our border guards sent word. There are two armies approaching the kingdom. You are needed!" After saying that, the man turned and ran back out of the room. Eulsam shook his head and got himself up. He clicked through his inventory and equipped his gear as he headed out the door. Asuna followed shortly after, wearing her armor which was now painted colored blue and white.

The two of them entered the briefing room. Eulsam took his seat at the head of the table, and Asuna sat down next to him. "What's the situation?" he asked.

"Two armies have been reported. Both hoisting the flags of the Red Hand. The main force approaches on ships from the south, and a secondary force approaches from the west."

"Any idea how many?"

"A lot. First reports counted over fifty vessels, and the army approaching by land is mixed with NPC races."

"Evacuate the western border and outlier towns. Tell everyone to seek shelter within the capital." After he said that, one of the protectors started sending out messages. "Gather up the builders. Have them start preparing fortifications on the western side of town. Get people from the edges of the cities and convert the buildings there to fortresses and towers." Another two of the blue and white decorated players left the room. "Send messages out to all other VPG towns and outposts. Tell them to fortify their defenses but to stay put and prepare for an attack. Tell the coastal town to send out as much of the fleet as they can and engage the enemy before the reach the shore. Asuna…"

"Hai?"

"Tell Kirito and the others we need them in Newberg." Asuna nodded and sent out the message. "Send fifty troops from the city to the south, and have them prepare defenses inland. Call everyone else to assemble in the streets, and warn our civilians to arm themselves if they haven't already."

"They've teleported in," Asuna said. "They're in the square." Eulsam got up and headed out of the room. Asuna followed close behind and the two of them went out to the central square outside of the keep.

"What's going on?" Kirito asked as he headed for the fortress.

"We're about to be in a war," Eulsam said. "The Red Hand is attacking from two sides."

"I will alert the Wardens," Michiko said, opening up her player menu.

"Tell them to stay in the east," Eulsam said.

Michiko looked up at him. "Why?"

"I expect that the Red Hand might expect us to move our troops to engage them. If they have more out there somewhere, they're waiting for the opportunity to pounce on undefended towns."

Michiko nodded, and sent out her message. Lisbeth and Sampson approached the square, and joined the conversation. "How can we help?" Lisbeth asked.

"We'll need to hold in a defensive position," Eulsam said, looking out westward. "I've ordered builders to fortify structures on the western edge of the city. To the south, there is a fleet carrying soldiers approaching, our own fleet will engage them. But with only triremes, a naval battle will not be so easy."

Lisbeth unfurled her huge wings. "I will aid them," she said. "I will rain fire on their wooden ships. The fleet will never make landfall."

"I appreciate the offer," Eulsam said. "But I have to warn you that with their numbers, it won't be difficult to take you down."

"Lisbeth," Sampson said. "We agreed we were done fighting. You should stay here."

She shook her head. "This is important." She flew upwards a short distance. "I'll be back!" she shouted as she took off towards the south.

Kirito blinked as he got a new message. "The Temple of Gaea is under attack," he said, and then looked up at the others. "It's Death Oath. And they have an army."

"There is more people in Newberg. We have to defend this city," Asuna said.

* * *

><p>On the Oasis Plateau, the armies of undead and demons alike marched for the Temple of Gaea, overhead, the slain dragons of the Northern Mountains joined them. Two of the largest dragons, the twins Wrath and Ruin, had flown ahead of the army to lay siege on the temple. Players worked hard to try and defend, but without Silver Steel armaments, it was a difficult defense to pull off. Fireballs fell from the sky and into the town, killing players and destroying buildings. From the immediate west, and band of quickly banded players rode from Duneclimb to lend their aid in the temple's defense. When the armies of Al'Kuraz ran into them though, the march was stopped in its tracks, and the players quickly became overwhelmed by their numbers.<p>

* * *

><p>In the seas south of Newberg, the ships of the Red Hand were suddenly under attack. The enemy's approach was concealed by a massive fog that had rolled in on them. The first thing to hit was a series of fireballs falling on one of the ships. The fleet was suddenly alert and moved into battle positions. Ranged players prepared to strike, and looked across the water for their attacker.<p>

To their great disappointment, Lisbeth crashed down onto one of the ships, and immediately attacked, catching unprepared melee combatants off-guard. Players started attacking her, but she had activated her Paladin ability, and so it was all for not.

She cast fireballs from her spot, hitting other ships first, and the ship stood on last before flying back up into the sky. As the ships started to sink, the remaining players tried to search for her through the fog. Suddenly, they started running into the Protector's fleet, as triremes started to ram into their own ships, and they started to board them.

* * *

><p>The other army marching across the land to Newberg had picked up the pace once they discovered that western towns had been evacuated. They occupied those structures, and those towns turned into enemy outposts.<p>

When the army was in sight of Newberg, the players there prepared to fight, taking up defensive positions in the recently fortified structures. Atop buildings they had placed catapults and ballistae. The ballistae would be reserved for attacking large NPC's, like minotaurs, while the catapults were used as traditional field siege weapons.

Kirito met up with Asuna in one of the fortified buildings. "Asuna," he said as he approached. The two were alone in a room with two beds. Asuna turned to look at him. Out the window, they could see over the walls to the army on the horizon. "Do you remember in Aincrad, when we lived together and got away from the chaos of the front lines?"

"Hai," Asuna said. "I really wish we could go back to that right now. These guys make Laughing Coffin look like a bunch of casuals…"

"Are you scared?"

Asuna nodded. "They don't just enjoy killing players. They enjoy having wars, and killing them in mass numbers whereas Laughing Coffin was more competitive about it. Things were a lot simpler in SAO. Our goal was clear. We didn't have this constant fighting between players…"

Kirito sat down on one of the beds. "For a while, it seemed like everything was going to be normal again. Even the player killers were able to stop their bloodlust to have fun playing the game."

"You asked me if I remembered our cabin in the woods. What made you bring it up?"

"I want to go back," he said. "But… we never will. For all we know, the old VRMMORPG's have been erased."

"We can make it again on our own," Asuna said. "Someday, when all of this is behind us, we'll recreate it and live there again."

"How long will that last? Until another psychotic group decides to round everyone up into another death game? Will we even make it past this one?"

"Don't talk like that." Asuna sat down next to him, and hugged him closely.

"Asuna," Kirito said, looking down. "Did you have your chance with Eulsam? Can you tell me yet, whether or not you're ready to come back to me?"

"I don't know," Asuna said.

"He said that he loved you," Kirito said. "But I loved you first. And you loved me back. It was like a dream, and I feel like now it's all turned into one giant nightmare. I'm sick of it. I want to wake up."

"I'm sorry," Asuna said. "I'm not ready yet."

"Do you still love me?"

Before Asuna could answer, the fighting started. She looked at him, and he had his head hung low. She was about to say something, but then got up, and left the room. Kirito looked up at her as she left, and then he looked outside. Soon after, he went to join the fight.

* * *

><p>GothGod and his Death Oath entered the temple grounds behind the armies of the undead, who went through and killed the players who remained there. The group of them went up through the courtyard, and towards the altar of Earth, where Gaea was waiting for them.<p>

"It's really a shame,"GothGod said. "I had hoped I would find Kirito and Asuna here, and kill them in this battle."

* * *

><p>Back in the real world, a force of heavily armed soldiers geared up outside of a building believed to be the Laughing Coffin's server headquarters. It was a formerly abandoned building in northern California, and aside from the IVRTF agents there, the squads were all FBI, most of them SWAT teams.<p>

"There's a good chance that once we get inside, they'll turn the whole game into a hostage situation," Kojji said as he briefed a team in charge of the infiltration. "They probably already know we're here, so this could happen at any moment. If it does, we need to cease all weapons fire, and open a communications channel to negotiate."

"In the meantime," another person said, who wore an FBI badge. "My team will be working on infiltrating their computer systems. It's really a simple virus that disables input commands from going into their machines. Once that's in, they won't be able to hurt anyone inside the game. It will take some time to remove the virus once we have control of the systems, but once we get them back, we'll be able to force a logout of all players."

Two other FBI at the meeting nodded and went off to brief their SWAT teams.

* * *

><p>"Mother Earth!" GothGod said. He looked up at the towering god, and smiled. "It's so nice to finally meet you in-person."<p>

"You shouldn't be here!" the Oracle said as she approached. One of the Death Oath pulled out a knife, and grabbed hold of the approaching player. She struggled for a moment. "Do you know what you're doing? If you intend to slay her, the whole world will crumble! Thousands will die!"

GothGod approached the woman, and kneeled before her. "Do you think I care who has to die for me to get what I want?" He held that special blade to her throat. "Do you?"

"Leave her be," Gaea said as she watched the scene unfold. "She's not the one you want."

GothGod nodded and approached the goddess. "You're right. You are."

"If you plan on destroying me, I hope you're ready to face the consequences of that action," she said.

"If you don't wish to die, my lady, then you can hand over the Fruit of Knowledge. That's all I want."

"This artifact was not meant for you. In the hands of a good person, knowledge will grow and it will serve those who are good. It would bring about prosperity. If an evil person were to have that knowledge, they could deal a great blow to humanity."

"Blah blah blah," GothGod said. "I'm not evil. I'm selfish. There's a difference."

"Knowledge is not meant to serve the self. It is meant to serve the whole. This item would not only bring about a new age in the virtual one, but in the real one as well. If you wish to fulfill your ultimate goal, then you will not use it yourself, but will pass it on to someone who is worthy."

"Like Eulsam? Like Kirito? They say knowledge is power, and power corrupts. How can you say who is deserving of this gift?"

"The one who created me, created me to find the right person. There are many I have seen who are deserving. You are not one of them. I have seen the contents of your character, and you would destroy everything good in this world."

GothGod held his weapon tight, and shook his head. "Enough chatter. If you won't hand it over willingly. I will take it from you…"

* * *

><p>After Kirito reached the fight, the first enemy he engaged was one of the large minotaurs. His allies were nowhere in sight, mixed in with all of the chaos. He activated his Starburst Stream and lunged at the beast, slashing at it until it was dead, and then moved onto the next.<p>

Eulsam was fighting a flurry of enemy soldiers with dual swords, and as each one charged in, it was a few simple hits before they would die. None of the Red Hand were a match for any of the heroes. But still, with as many as they had, the defensive forces were looking as if they would soon be overwhelmed.

After fighting through the chaos, Kirito made her way to Asuna, and blocked an attack that was coming for her unguarded side. The two smiled at each other, and teamed up to fight off the opposing forces. Asuna used her Lightning Sword to quickly down opponents as Kirito used all of his abilities to keep up with her.

"You should have beaten me," Kirito said as they guarded each other's backs.

"Why is that?"

"At level one hundred and ten, you should have three abilities. I've seen two of yours now."

Asuna growled as she stabbed a charging player. "You noticed?"

"You promised me you wouldn't hold back."

"Sorry," she said. "I wanted you to win, and I wanted you to fight Eulsam over me." Kirito moved away from her to attack two incoming targets, and on his way back, he went around to her front, using his whirlwind and forcing a flurry of troops back away from them.

"Do you love him?" Kirito asked.

Asuna nodded. "Yes!" she shouted. "I do…"

"Then are we through?" Kirito asked. Asuna stopped, and so did Kirito. They looked at each other for a split second before going back to fighting. "Asuna," Kirito said. "Just tell me so I can move on. Tell me you don't love me anymore and that'll be the end of it. But if you can't, then let's restart our relationship. I want to be with you forever."

* * *

><p>It was at that moment, that GothGod swung his super weapon at the goddess. That's all it took. This weapon he wielded was a one-hit move, and Gaea was powerless against it. She screamed out as her form faltered. The earth and trees that made up her body began to fall away, the green on her withering to brown and the light in her eyes escaping her. It ended with a bang, her form exploding in flames and blasting ashes all over the room.<p>

In her place floated the brilliantly glowing, red fruit—The Fruit of Knowledge. There was a rumbling and a shaking in the ground as GothGod approached the legendary item. He grasped it, and immediately he began to consume it. Each bit he took made him twitch, a glowing surge shooting through his body. The rest of the Death Oath started to grow worried as the room around them shook violently, and dust fell from the ceiling.

"Do not be afraid," the Black Prophet said as he finished his meal. When he looked back at his guild, his eyes appeared as dark as the night sky, and an eerie black smoke surrounded him. "For I now know all things. And in this place, we will be safe."

* * *

><p>The first thing that was felt around the world was a shaking of the earth, and a pulse of the air. Lisbeth over the waters noticed it, and looked into the distance where it came from. Kirito and Asuna noticed it on the ground, and so did the rest of both of the armies. Everyone looked towards the Temple of Gaea.<p>

A low rumbling was heard, and then, in the distance, they all saw it. The massive caldera explosion of the mountain standing in the middle of Oasis Plateau. The earth itself gave way to the blast, and from the great distance of Newberg, it appeared as a sudden huge burst of orange light, as lava and rocks were flung high and far through the air.

The sound came next, and it was the sound of the tectonic plates of the ground shattering before the burst. The force of a billion atomic explosions shook the ground, and what happened next was the deaths of thousands of players, and the destruction of the entire world.

Kirito and Asuna were suddenly separated, and Kirito found himself sliding down a chunk of earth as it gave way, and seemed to fall from the rest of the city of Newberg into a bottomless pit. He tried to run from it, but just as he was about to escape, the earth jolted, and threw him back towards the vast chasm opening below.

Asuna fell to the ground from the jolt, and quickly scrambled to the edge, but it was too late. "Kirito!" she shouted as he fell. "Oh wait a minute," she said as she opened her player inventory. She activated her pegasus mount, and fly down towards him.

Kirito was trying to do the same, but the fall was too short, and he hit a tree which protruded from what was now the side of the moving cliff. It knocked him out cold, and Asuna was quick to pull him onto her horse, and fly upward.

When she flew up, she looked all around at the devastation of the sundering of the world. Burning rocks began to fall from the sky, and the cloud of ashes had blotted out the sun over the whole world. Vearth was being torn apart.

* * *

><p>Lisbeth was flung through the air as the water all seemed to give way, and rush inland like a raging river. The downdraft was too strong for her, and she was pulled into the water, and swept along with the current. Everyone on the ships dropped their weapons and braced themselves, grabbing onto masts and railing wherever they could as the ships were taken with the fury. The crashed into one another and many of them were swallowed up by the fast moving seas.<p>

When she awoke, Lisbeth was at less than ten percent health, and her body rested on a rock cliff. She looked around her, and saw the ruins of ships and the bodies of players on the water, crashing against the rocks. She looked up, and then flew there. The land she was in she did not recognize, not at first. But upon further inspection, she realized that she was midway between Newberg, and where the coast should have been. A thin line of trees covered the very edge of the cliffs.

When she looked to the distance, the plains were now a series jagged ridges. The city of Newberg in the distance was cut in half by one of these ridges, many of the buildings now facing at an angle into the air. It wasn't over yet, though. Just then, she saw what looked like huge rocks falling from the sky, and crashing all across Vearth. Upon close inspection, she made out one of them as a chunk of Aincrad.

She had a moment of silence, looking out at everything, and then flew towards Newberg to meet up with her friends. She feared the worst.

* * *

><p>"Kirito," Asuna said as she looked down at the unconscious player. She looked at his vitals, and applied a health potion which cured him. "Kirito!"<p>

He slowly woke up, and looked at the darkened sky. All around him, everything was covered in a fine layer of ashes. Even Asuna's face was peppered with soot. "Asuna?" he asked. "What happened?"

Asuna held him closely, and cried with him in her arms. "A lot of people died," she said. "You almost died. I was scared."

Kirito hugged her tightly and picked himself up off the ground to look around. Players were slowly recovering from the great shakes, and many did not get up at all.

Asuna stood up and hugged Kirito close to her once again. "Yes."

"Yes what?" Kirito had forgotten where their conversation had left off.

"I love you…"

* * *

><p>In the real world, the move into the Laughing Coffin headquarters was a success. FBI agents led Laughing Coffin members out of the building in handcuffs. The team's programmers got to work on the computers, to start reversing their virus. "How long will it take?" Kojji asked.<p>

"About ten minutes," one of the programmers said as he started working with one of the computers.

Seijiro looked at a text from his phone, and shook his head. "We don't have that long."

"Why is that?" Kojji asked.

Seijiro showed him the images that his team in the observation headquarters was sending. "Something happened inside of the game…"

* * *

><p>After the destruction ended, the room in which the Death Oath waited out the eruption was intact. GothGod smiled, and approached the exit of the room. "It's over," he said. "We can move on now."<p>

"Move on to what?" one of the whispers asked. "I don't think there's anything left."

The Black Prophet looked at him, and tilted his head. "Do you not trust me anymore?" He walked outside the altar room, and stepped out onto ruined ground outside. His foot touching the ground caused steam to rise from the surface. "System command," he said. "Grant player: GothGod administrator access. Validation ID: Heathcliff, password: e7hu197e6. System command, generate object ID: system console." Before GothGod, a black cube appeared, and he touched it and began to use it like a computer. He smiled, and then laughed. "Not so fast…" He hit a few buttons more, and an upload of some sort began.

* * *

><p>"Sir!" Seijiro shouted. "GothGod just gave himself administrator access. We need to get the players out now!" The programmer looked back at Seijiro, and then got to work. "Everyone!" he said. "Hurry up. We're going to miss our chance." Before the team could do anything though, a pop-up appeared an all of the screens in the base. It was an upload progress bar.<p>

Then, everything on the screen turned black, and the next thing to appear was the Black Prophet. He wore his plague mask, but everyone could see him smiling underneath it. "I applaud your efforts," he said. His voice was like a whisper now. "But you see. I am in control now. And this game is far from over… You will never stop me! I will never return to the real world. None of us will. Veath and its players belong to me. If you try and change that, I will take Earth as well."

"What's he talking about?" Kojji asked.

"A gift for you," GothGod said. "To prove my threats are no joke." After that, the whole system shut down. Though the IVRTF couldn't see it happening, the servers and all data on them were being erased.

A few moments passed, and the lead FBI agent there got off the phone with someone. "I…" he said, looking to everyone. "I have just received word that there has been a launch… around the world."

"A launch?" Seijiro asked.

"Nuclear missiles. And not just in the US. One Nuclear missile from every armed nation has been launched. Is that what he meant? Does he have control of our nuclear arsenal?"

Kojji got the next call. "Yes, sir," he said. "We just heard… we think so… no, sir… I'll let them know." He hung up the phone, and turned to the group. "Fortunately, the trajectory of the missiles is going straight into space. He was just proving that he could do it… not attacking. Yet."

"How is that possible?" Seijiro asked.

"I think… I understand," the programmer that previously attempted to end the game said. "That upload screen. I think GothGod used system commands to upload the contents of the game in its current state, and all players to the cloud."

"The cloud?"

"The internet, in other words. If that's the case, all these servers are blank. Laughing Coffin used this base to maintain control over the game's data. If it's stored over the internet, which is to say, stored in tiny little fragments, hidden away on every connected device in the world, then it'll be harder to find, but less secure, so we would be able to hack in easier. It's also how he's controlling things in the real world now."

"It's that part that complicates things," Kojji said. "If he can launch nuclear strikes from within the game… we should be very careful about trying to interfere any further."

"Couldn't we just unplug the player from the game, killing him?"

"I doubt that would work," Seijiro said. "If what you said is true, then it's likely he's already anticipated that. Just before he became administrator, he used an item in-game called the Fruit of Knowledge. I'm only just now starting to understand that it went beyond knowledge of the game world. I think… he might now know everything… at least everything that's online."

* * *

><p>"I can't go with you," Eulsam said. The group met back up together somewhere in the city. It was hard to tell where, as the buildings that had stood through the quake were covered in ashes, and so were the streets. "I have a duty to the players of Vearth to stay here, and keep this town a safe haven."<p>

"I can't stay, Eulsam," Asuna said.

He nodded. "I understand that. Go do what you have to do. I'll see you again soon. Xaela." Eulsam turned to address the gladiator.

"Yes, sir?"

"Make up your mind now. Will you stay and help me or go and bring the ones who did this to justice?"

"I'll go…" she said.

"Very good… Michiko…"

"I need to find my guild," she said. "I need to make sure they're still alive. And if they're not… I don't know, I'll contact you."

"Everyone else," Eulsam said. "I'd appreciate any help I can get, but you go wherever you feel you'll be needed most." Kirito left with everyone from his core group, mounting pegasi and started off with a trot. Asuna stayed behind for a moment longer. After they took to the skies, she turned to Eulsam. "Asuna… go."

Before leaving, she was about to say something, but cut herself off before starting. "I'll be back," she said, and then took off.

* * *

><p>As Kirito and the others flew towards the Temple of Gaea, Sinon managed to catch a glimpse of low flying, undead dragons. She pointed them out to the group. "There!" she shouted, and the rest of them dove down on the zombified mounts.<p>

They all landed in front of them and the Death Oath riding their backs were kind enough to all stop and talk. GothGod dismounted from his dragon, and he told his allies, "Keep flying, and teleport me when I send you a message…"

"You did this," Asuna said as she dismounted her horse and started to walk towards the Black Prophet.

"Yes, I did this," he said. His staff no longer had that special item attached to it. It was a one-time deal. "Are you going to punish me for it, Asuna?"

"How could you?" Kirito asked. "How many must have died just now?"

"How could I? Well I needed something from the goddess of the earth, and she wouldn't give it to me. So I was forced to kill her. She could have given it to me and everything would be just fine, now, wouldn't it?"

"You're a monster!" Asuna shouted as she charged with her spear at the Black Prophet. He snapped his fingers and vanished in a cloud of smoke, appearing a few feet away.

"I'm too smart for any of you to fight me now," he said. "Don't try to strike me. I can see the future. I can tell when you're attacks are coming."

Kirito went in next, leaping at him, and slashing with his swords. Again, GothGod teleported a short distance in a puff of smoke. When he re-appeared, Klein used his Quickdraw to try and hit him. The Black Prophet reached out with his stick, and blocked the attack. "W-what?" Klein looked at the stick. 'It's made of wood…"

GothGod grabs Kirito by the wrist, and threw him away. "It's made of dragon bone, actually… it's harder than Silver Steel, and as light as bronze. Now enough of this. It's time for you to die." The Black Prophet drew from his cloak a long sword. The blade appeared to be green, of jade.

Lisbeth activated her Paladin mode, and charged in, wings unfurled and tail whipping behind her. She used her shield to knock away his staff. When she attacked with her sword, which was all lit up in flames, he parried the attack with his own. He snapped his fingers and was again gone, re-appearing away from the group. He held out his hand, and his staff flew over to him.

"Face justice!" Lisbeth demanded of him, as she charged again. She threw her shield at him, but before it hit, he whispered a spell, and the shield stopped in its path and burst into flames. She still charged, using both hands to swing her sword against him. He blocked the attack, and circled his sword around hers, disarming her.

"You're no match for me," he said. "I've ascended to a boss class. Not even the Dragon Queen can defeat me, dear." Lisbeth's Paladin mode wore off. Kirito and Asuna both charged. He tapped his staff to the ground, and a wave of energy shot out, knocking both of them away. Sampson and Klein moved in next, and he blocked Sampson's attack with his staff, and Klein's with his sword. Once they were knocked away, he started casting a spell, and Klein and Sampson's feet were suddenly grabbed by skeletal hands reaching from the ground.

Lisbeth charged in again, jumping up and striking down with a heavy hit. GothGod held up both his staff and sword to block the incoming attack, and then threw them away. Lisbeth went in and attacked with her tail, sweeping at his feet, but once more, he vanished.

"Why did you do it?" Kirito shouted. "Why did you decide that knowledge was more valuable than the lives of thousands of players?"

"System command!" he shouted. Kirito blinked, and then charged. GothGod interrupted his command to cast a spell, this one caused Kirito to fall in place as if his right leg were suddenly broken, and he took damage. He screamed out in pain and grabbed his leg. "System command! Set pain absorber level to twenty percent!" An icon appeared in front of GothGod, displaying the falling level of the pain absorbers. Kirito screamed out louder.

Asuna charged in again. GothGod swung his sword up through the air, and a series of green and black jagged rocks shot up at her, and knocked her away. He did a downward chop afterwards, and the spines jutting up from the ground grew out farther, and stabbed her. She was knocked back, but was bleeding from the damage. She cried out and rolled into a fetal position.

Lisbeth started hurling fireballs at him, and he teleported out of the way of the first few. After that, he cast another spell, and the next two to hit were absorbed, their explosions vanishing in a green mist. "You really are a persistent bunch," he said. Lisbeth charged him again, and he cast another spell at her, which made her suddenly blink out and in of unconsciousness, she hit the ground right after she woke up, and shook her head. The Black Prophet followed through by slashing at the base of her wings, one after the other. She roared out and shuddered, paralyzed from the pain.

"You coward," Kirito said as he forced himself to stand, and he was slowly healed back up as Leafa cast her healing spell. "You use your advanced class and your cheating knowledge of the game's mechanics. And using system commands like that… You're horrible! We will bring you to justice."

"System command!" Kirito charged him again, but he was still shielded, and when Kirito hit the shield, he was blown back with the force of Lisbeth's fireballs, and dropped down to near death. "Give player ID: GothGod item Sands of Time." He then approached Kirito, and as he did, Asuna charged at him, her health back up. He stepped out of the way of her spear, and when she tried to hit him with her shield, he swung his sword at her head, leaving a huge cut in her face. It caused her strength to fail, and she yelled out in pain, dropping her weapons to hold her wound.

The Black Prophet grabbed Kirito's arm, and held him up on his feet. "You think you're better than me… with your morals, and your constitution. But, I will tell you the truth now. You're not." He shrugged. "No, in fact, any one of you could have been as bad as any of the player killers you hated so much. In fact… any one of you could be worse. Hmm? Want to see?"

Sampson finally freed himself from the bone claws holding his feet down, and charged at GothGod, going into his bull rage. In response, the Death Oath leader tapped his staff to the ground, and another series of black and green spires of jagged rocks shot out from him in all directions, knocking Sampson away. He still held Kirito up, and so Kirito wasn't hit by them as they emerged from beyond where GothGod held him. After that though, he threw Kirito to the ground, where he writhed in pain.

GothGod began casting a spell after he called the Sands of Time in front of him. Leafa made her next spell an attack, once Kirito was healed back to fifty percent health. A bolt of green energy shot at the Black Prophet. He used his sword to swing at it, and the blade absorbed the attack. It was too late now, the spell was finished and there was a flash of light.

Leafa went back to healing her allies, and looked around as she did so. "What was that?" Kirito asked once he reached full health, and stood up. GothGod was typing out a message to his friends, and soon after, he was teleported away from the fight.

Asuna got up next, and then Klein finally freed himself. Lisbeth took the longest to heal, but eventually, her wings grew back, and she folded them into her body. "He's back at Newberg. We should have never left," Asuna said.

"Too late now," Lisbeth said. "Leafa, do you have enough mana left to mass teleport?" She shook her head.

"Asuna…" Kirito said. She looked over to Kirito, but Kirito himself was baffled. He hadn't said anything.

"Look out!" Kirito then did say. Asuna whipped around and a man stood behind her, the spitting image of Kirito, only something was… different about this one. His cloak was dark, but had a hint of red shade to it, and his eyes were crazy looking.

The false Kirito attacked, and he wielded two swords, neither of which were Elucidators. Asuna held up her shield to defend herself, and used her sword to black a second attack. "What the hell is going on?" Asuna shouted as she moved quickly to defend herself, but very soon found herself disarmed of a sword and using both hands to wield her shield.

Lisbeth charged on this new Kirito, and so did the real one, but they were both baffled at how quickly this false Kirito had parried and disarmed them of their weapons, and then charged for Asuna once more. "Asuna how could you?" it shouted. "After everything I've done! After everything we've been through together, you betray me?"

Asuna drew her spear, and defended herself as best as she could against the insane Kirito. "Kirito," another voice said, like Asuna's. "Run… Run now!" A second Asuna attacked Kirito, and he quickly drew his weapons to start blocking and parrying attacks. "Kirito, I'm so sorry!" this one shouted. "Please forgive me!" Kirito turned and ran from this newcomer.

"Okay," Leafa said, watching this. "I'm officially confused."

"The Sands of Time," Sampson said. In his head he was trying to figure it out. He wasn't quite there before another clone appeared, this one was Lisbeth, except her name plate read The Dragon Queen.

Lisbeth saw it, and charged for her. "Sampson! Watch out!" she shouted as she engaged her double. The other Lisbeth blinked as she began fighting herself, but it made no difference to her. The two were at least evenly matched, and so Lisbeth took her double to the side, and held her attention.

Sampson had ducked, and when he saw Lisbeth fighting again, he charged in to help her. The others were ready to fight now. Sinon finally got an arrow off against the duplicate Asuna, hitting her in the back, but she didn't relent in her strikes, so Sinon fired at her again. It missed though, as she felt a whisper from behind. "Bang," she heard, and whipped around to see herself. The double seemed just as surprised to see her, and she held up her weapon, a bow made of dragon's bones. There was a moment's hesitation, but she fired, and Sinon quickly ducked out of the way. As she looked back, she saw on her duplicate self, painted on her face, the symbol of the Laughing Coffin.

Klein jumped in to help Sinon engage her double, and when he did, she turned with her next arrow, and activated her special ability. Klein engaged his Quickdraw at the last moment, and dodged four shots that would have hit his face to strike at the double.

Leafa looked from player to player, and casted heals wherever she got a chance, but soon a shadow loomed over her, and she whipped around to see the giant Sampson, only his hands were the color red. "Oh darn…" she said and turned to run. The Sampson doppelganger went into a bull rage and chased her down, wielding two huge axes. "Help!" she shouted, but everyone was busy. Silica was busy fighting off a Laughing Coffin Klein, and a duplicate Leafa and Silica were fighting one another.

Kirito looked around. He seemed to have lost the duplicate Asuna, and so he started searching for the real one. "Asuna!" he shouted as he looked through the darkness. He found himself in a forest area, and started running back towards the desert to see if he could find her.

Meanwhile, Asuna, the real Asuna, was struggling to defend herself against the false Kirito. She entered her Valkyrie state, and pushed her shield into him, knocking him back. Then she activated her third ability, which she had kept hidden until today. Her body seemed to move like lightning, sparks shooting every time she stopped. She swarmed around Kirito, making quick strikes against him at the speed of sound. This duplicate Kirito got hit a few times, but ultimately caught up to her movement speed as he activated Blade Dancer's Fury, and the two of them fought a duel that the eye could not keep up with.

"Asuna!" Kirito shouted as he saw the two of them fighting. He ran in and activated his own fury to join the fray, and together, he and Asuna were able to get the false Kirito to back off.

Now that he was still, they got a good look at his weapons. Both must have been dragon bone, as the Black Prophet introduced to them, because they appeared as wood. Each blade was also lined with a series of teeth. Each weapon had a name carved into them. One spelled Wrath and the other Ruin. "I don't know what's going on here," he said. "But we will meet again, fake Kirito… fake Asuna…" He then turned and fled into the jungle.

When Kirito and Asuna returned to their group, they had found the duplicate Lisbeth and the duplicate Sampson dead on the ground, and Klein moved his own body to join the two of them. "Okay," Leafa said. "So explain that for them now, Sampson."

Sampson turned to see Kirito and Asuna. "I'm sure the first thought everyone had was clones." Kirito and Asuna nodded. "Except… why were the Sands of Time involved in making clones, and why did each of these enemies appear to have their own history and their own character? I thought about what GothGod said, that each of us could have been bad. These," he pointed out. "These are ourselves from alternate realities in which we wound up choosing evil instead of good."

"That's not all of us," Asuna pointed out. "Where did the rest go?"

"They ran away out of confusion," Sinon said. "I'm sure we'll be seeing them again."

"I suppose that makes some sense," Kirito said. "But why?"

"It's a distraction," Lisbeth said. "Now GothGod and his Death Oath are in Newberg, doing whatever it is they were planning on doing. Though somehow I think he expected them to kill us."

"He could have done that himself, though," Asuna said. "He had system commands. He could just have the system kill us."

"Too easy…" Kirito said. "He's like every other insane person we've seen running these death games. He wants to beat us, not just kills us."

"I hear something," Sinon said. "It's Asuna… or… her double…" Sinon and Asuna went to where the noise of whimpering was coming from, and they looked down to see the duplicated Asuna curled up into a ball.

"Asuna?" Asuna said. "You don't want to kill us or something?"

The false Asuna looked up, and shook her head. "I never wanted to hurt anybody… They made me… they turned me into a weapon."

Sinon blinked. "Then why did you attack Kirito?" she asked.

The false Asuna cried again, and shook her head. "I really can't help it. I don't want to hurt him, but I can't stop myself. Wait a minute…" she looked up. "What's happening? I'm… I'm Asuna, but, so are you. And I thought I saw two Kirito's back there, but… Kirito's already dead."

"This sounds familiar," Asuna said. "Open your inventory, I want to see it."

"Why?" the double asked. She did as she as requested though, and the real Asuna looked through it. "What are you looking for?"

"A death note," Asuna said. "It's a little slip of paper, the Death Oath used one to make Kirito try and kill me in this world. I'm guessing things were reversed in yours." She shook her head. "But I don't see it."

"I could have told you that," the false said. "It's not something in-game that makes me want to kill him, it's the experiments."

"The experiments?" Asuna asked.

A few moments later Asuna and Sinon returned to the group, but left the fake one where she was. "Okay," Sinon said. "Well we figured out that one's story, if anyone's interested. Basically, she's a terminator."

"Kirito," Asuna said. "Remember Alfheim online, and Sugou?"

Kirito nodded, and shuddered. "I try not to…"

"In her timeline, you failed. Her mind was taken over and warped into falling in love with that creep. But when he died, things seemed to fall apart. Nothing made sense to her, and she kept having dreams about you. One day, though, she was taken by the Laughing Coffin. They continued the experiments with her, and the memories of her love for the Kirito of her timeline returned. Laughing Coffin had something sinister in mind. They knew you would be there in their new Death Game, and they wanted revenge. Apparently, in that timeline, you did a lot more than thwart a single group of psychotic killers, you took down half of their operations."

"I probably had to fill the void you left behind," he said.

"That Asuna," Asuna pointed over to where they found her. "Was reprogrammed by the Laughing Coffin to be a killing machine. She has every single move you can make downloaded into her brain, knows every counter, every weakness… They only changed what they needed to make her kill, though, caring not for her emotions, and sent her out into their new death game to kill you in combat. It would be a fitting revenge in their eyes. And… in her timeline, she did just that."

"I kind of feel sorry for her," Sinon said. "She's like a worst case scenario Asuna."

"The others are likely similar," Sampson said. "Worst case would have been Lisbeth never being freed from Smuldur. I don't know under what circumstances I would have joined the Red Hand, but I'm sure there was some story behind it."

"My worst case must have been joining the Laughing Coffin after the events of Gun Gale Online. She probably never even met Kirito in that timeline."

"I'm guessing same here," Klein said. "If Kirito never showed me the ropes in SAO, I don't know what might have happened."

"The other me seemed absolutely insane," Kirito said. "He was trying to kill Asuna, but it didn't seem like Asuna's double where he had no choice. He had swords made from dragon bone, named Wrath and Ruin." Lisbeth shuddered, and shook her head.

"What do we do with my double?" Asuna asked. "She's kind of an innocent in this whole situation. It'd be wrong to kill her, but if she sees or even hears Kirito again, she'll attack."

"I have some rope," Silica said out of the blue. The rest looked at her, and Kirito shrugged, and then nodded.

"You just want to see me tied up," Asuna said, glancing at him from the side. He chuckled and nodded again. "Well, it's all we got for now…"

* * *

><p>In the keep in Newberg, which was less a keep and more an empty shell of a building, GothGod and his Death Oath stood in the ground floor room, and looked around. No one had noticed their presence, and he chuckled a little. After that, he pulled out a few items, and started to cast a spell.<p> 


	29. Chapter 29: Doubt

_[Draft Saved: 03/03/31]_

_Dear Kirito,_

_Ever since I first met you, my life has been like one long, never ending dream. It has been the best years of my life, and I will never forget that. I will never forget you. But the last three years… that dream has turned into a nightmare I can never forget. The world has become so complicated, and as it has, so have we, and as we have, I have become more and more conflicted. It was me though, and I want you to know that. I'm the one who doubted you, and as a result, I started us down this path—the path that leads to our end._

_I am writing to you to tell you that I have made my decision. If I were to drag this out any longer, I fear it would destroy you, and I don't wish to see that happen. I want to be happy, but I want you to be happy too. Since I cannot, at this point, be happy with you, I feel that the time has come to go our separate ways. I am in love with someone else, and as I have grown more attached to him, I feel my love for you fading. As it does… I feel like I'm waking up from the dream and the nightmare, and I'm coming back to the real world. In the real world, I see my future with Eulsam, and not with you._

_I hope you can someday find love again,_

_Asuna._

* * *

><p><em>Year 1, Month 8, Day 27<em>

Asuna and Kirito were together in Eastown. Asuna laid on a bed while Kirito sat with her, and night had fallen. Asuna shook a little, and breathed heavily, and Kirito held her hand. In the real world, Asuna was being moved through the hospital, and her mother, Kyouko, walked with her as the hospital staff moved her. She used her phone to access Pegasus, and sent a message to Kirito.

Kirito looked at his player menu and accessed the message. Asuna looked over to it, and could see it was from Pegasus. "What's it say?" Asuna asked.

"It says your body had some kind of negative reaction to the anesthetics," Kirito said. "And that's probably why you feel cold and jittery."

"So what's going to happen?"

"They're asking me to ask you to choose between a couple options. Option one," Kirito said. "They overload the AmuSphere's sensory reduction components, and try to use it to stop the pain. But it's risky… they're saying that it could cause nerve damage, and could possibly severely damage the connection between your brain and the rest of your body."

Asuna looked up at him and shook her head. "I don't understand what that means, Kirito…"

"It means that…" Kirito shook his head. "It says that it means you'll lose control of your body, and if you wake up, you'll be conscious inside of a body that cannot move, or even breathe. You'll be hooked up to medical machinery for the rest of your life."

Asuna shook her head. "Doesn't sound like a good way to go. What's option two?"

"They give you nothing for the pain," Kirito said. "And… you'll just have to bare through it all. It won't be an issue in the real world because you can't control your body right now, but you'll still feel all of it, and it will be… well I can imagine it sounds awful."

Asuna groaned, and shook her head. "How can you be so calm about this?"

Kirito took a deep breath. "You told me that you wanted me to be calm and help you through this, no matter what happened. It's not easy…"

"It's just pain…" Asuna said. "It's just pain, right? It's not worth the risk, I can do this… Couldn't we just have me knocked out in-game?"

"That wouldn't matter," Kirito said. "That would stop pain from this world, but not the real one."

"Do it," she said to Kirito, but she was talking to the camera. "I'm in a safe place right now. I'll get through it… I have you by my side, Kirito…" At that, Asuna smiled, and gripped Kirito's hand tightly. "Would it make a difference to opt for a natural birth now?"

After a few moments, Kirito read the next message. "It wouldn't. It would be less painful, but not by much, and it'd take much longer. Your mother says she has the best surgeon for the job. The main part of the job will be done in ten minutes, and the aftercare in thirty to forty. The ten minutes will be the worst though. They say the pain will still linger on for a day or two, but after about two hours, it will be much easier on you."

"I love you…" she said. Kirito smiled, and the two leaned in to one another for a very quick kiss, and then Asuna laid back down.

"They're going to wait for about twenty minutes to make sure the medicine they gave you doesn't have any other unexpected side-effects."

It was twenty-two minutes later that something complicated things in the game world. A small splinter faction of Red-Handed had tracked down the two of them to Eastown, and plotted a revenge mission to kill them. And it was then that Eastown fell under attack. It was meant to be a very quick mission, considering the fact that Eastown at this point was a fortified VPG outpost as well as a player town.

When the attack came, the bells rang out in alert, and Kirito got up to look out of the window only briefly to see what was happening. He was quickly pulled back to Asuna however as she let out a cry of pain. Kirito got the message from Pegasus, letting him know that they just began their operation. He closed the open windows and covered them with curtains. "It's nothing," he lied to her as he sat with her again and held her hand while she writhed.

Meanwhile, the small assassination squad went into one of the two inns in the town, and made their way to the room that intelligence indicated they would find Kirito and Asuna. When they charged through the door though, they found no one there. "Where are they?" the leader asked. "This is wrong. Our intel indicated they were right here! You!" he shouted to one of his allies. "Go check the other inn. The rest of you, check every room in this place. When you're done, get the hell out of here!"

They all nodded and started going. Fortunately for Kirito and Asuna, they had left their former room, which was much larger, so that a player group could use it just two nights ago. That group had since left, but Kirito and Asuna were still in a smaller room, in the other inn.

One of the Red-Handed charged into the door to find Kirito and Asuna. Kirito drew his swords, and turned towards the invader. The man took a half-step back, planning on going to alert his allies, when Kirito threw down his swords, and dropped to his knees. "Please," he said. The man, whose gamer tag read Ryun, stopped. "Normally, I would chase you down, and kill you, but there's a chance you would bring your friends to me. I don't doubt I could take you all on, but I cannot risk it."

"What?" Ryun asked.

Kirito pointed to Asuna, who was screaming in pain on the bed. "Look at her vitals. She's not taken damage and has no buffs. She is in pain because in the real world, she is giving birth to our child. I know it's your thing to kill players, but please… just once… walk away."

Ryun didn't know what to do. He looked between the two of them, and shook his head. "Once…" he muttered before turning and running. Kirito heard him once he got outside and met up with his buddied. "They're not here," he said. And that was the end of it.

* * *

><p><em>Year 3, Month 3, Day 5<em>

"Ryun!" a man shouted. A small group of players who were members of the Order of the Red Hand were in the desert after the shattering. "Ryun, are you okay?"

Ryun stood up slowly, and shook his head. He looked up from a small outlook halfway down a huge cliff. At the bottom of the cliff there was a canyon filled with lava, and at the top, in the ashen sky, sand flew over the ridge, and a man shouted down at him from it. "I'm okay," he said. He wiped his nose, bloody, and noted his health bare was slowly recovering from what appeared to be a terrible fall. He was thrown a rope, and climbed up to the sands above.

The group there was moderate in size, consisting of ten Red Hand and six other players—slaves. "What the hell happened?" Ryun asked.

"The end of the world, it looks like."

Ryun pointed at the slave players. "The whole virtual world is coming to an end and you worry about rallying up slaves?"

"Should I not have?"

"No…" Ryun said. "Have you contacted headquarters?"

"Yes. They took a pretty big hit. They're still trying to figure out how many we lost, but they haven't been able to contact a single member of the fleet, and only a handful of the army have responded. We lost a lot of people last night."

"And our whole town," Ryun looked around. There was one half of a building standing at the very edge of the cliff, the other half having apparently fallen down into the gorge. "We need to get to the ocean and return to base…"

"Whatever you say, sir," the man said. "But uhh, hey, listen. One of our scouts reported some high value targets west of here. They're on the way to the ocean. Should we plan on meeting them?"

"Yeah," Ryun said. He then turned to the six players who were not in their guild. "You…" He approached them, and drew a special, ritual dagger from his inventory. "We don't have the time or energy to waste on you anymore. You've got two choices: join us… or die." Of the six, only one got up, and approached Ryun. It was a woman, and she held out her hands to him, which were bound by rope. Ryun handed the dagger to her. "Do you know any of them?" he asked.

She nodded, pointing the knife towards one of the male slaves.

"What's the story," Ryun asked her.

To which she responded, "He raped my friend when he got drunk one night. They were together, and she killed herself afterwards."

"Revenge," Ryun said. "…they say, is a dish best served cold." Ryun looked over to the canyon. "Of course… I don't have any issue with incredibly hot, personally. Will he suffer?"

She nodded, and approached the man slowly, still unsure of herself. The man she approached looked up, and then back down. After what he had just been through, he accepted death. The woman stabbed him in the gut, and when she did, his blood seemed to crawl from the dagger to her hand, dying it red. Once that was done, and he was groaning in pain, she pulled him to the edge of the cliff, and threw him down. He didn't even resist.

* * *

><p>Kirito's group traveled by foot now, and headed from where they were in the desert towards the Ring Forest. It was not very far away. As they walked, Kirito stood behind and off to the side of the false Asuna, who had her hands bound by rope, and was being led on by a horse. "So," he said. "After you married Sugou, I took out my anger and frustration on Laughing Coffin, and actually helped them learn that they were planning another death game."<p>

"Yes," she said. "Are you sure this is safe?"

Kirito shook his head. "Honestly, I'm not sure at all. You're the same class and level as Asuna in our timeline, and after I saw her fight the fake Kirito, I'm convinced she could easily kill me if she wanted to. How long did I last in your timeline, with you hunting me down?"

"A long time," the fake Asuna said. "You're pretty resourceful. I had only just finished my mission when I found myself in your timeline. Plus, I can keep myself from looking for you, just not from attacking you."

"You're not attacking me now, though."

"Let's just say… the reach of my spear with my hands bound is about four or five feet. And based on how far your footsteps are from me, you're at least seven feet away. Any attack I could try now wouldn't work. I could throw my spear, but then I'd lose it."

"Asuna," Kirito said, looking to the real Asuna. "You left her armed?"

"Something weird happened when we tried to trade weapons," Asuna said. "It flat out couldn't be done. An error came up that read 'Paradox: weapon cannot be traded because of an object ID corruption."

"Interesting. Can't she delete them?"

"No," the fake Asuna said. "I can't force myself to delete them because I know that doing so would hinder my ability to kill you."

"But you let yourself be tied up with rope?" Kirito asked, confused.

"You gave me an extra weapon actually," she said. "I can think of at least fifty strategies for executing you with this. Most of which would be a surprise attack. It's also not difficult to cut through the rope, and if you take your eyes off of me, I'll probably pull a knife from my inventory to do so. The element of surprise was always an essential factor of my strategies in killing you."

"How come you're able to tell us all of this?"

"The Laughing Coffin weren't exactly experts in the field of mind control. My speech was an issue they neglected. If I couldn't control what I said, I would have killed you when I first arrived here."

"But you gave me a warning… If I didn't hear you coming, I'd be dead…"

"Where do I come in in your timeline, Asuna?" Leafa asked.

Asuna shook her head. "You don't. I never saw you once, but the Kirito in my world mentioned something once about a close relative who passed away in a car crash not long before SAO."

Leafa blinked, and took a deep breath. "The Kirito in your timeline suffered quite a bit…" she said. "I suppose if Kirito hadn't met me in Alfheim, he would have continued to try and fight without help. He might not have even made it to the world tree."

"This is helpful," Sampson said. "The more I think about this alternate timeline stuff, the more I'm realizing how it all works."

"Huh?" Kirito looked over to Sampson.

"It's quite a marvelous prediction engine," Sampson said. "I've heard rumors about AI's being made in the real world which could make nearly one-hundred-percent accurate predictions of major events in the future. If you take that same AI and use it to generate a 'what-if' scenario, where you alter a past event, it could map out an entire timeline of events and how they would most likely be changed."

"Like a butterfly effect?" Sinon asked.

"Exactly," Sampson said.

"With that in mind, we might be able to muse about what has changed in the timelines of the rest of our alternate reality clones." Sampson rubbed his chin. "It could be important in discerning their motivation. The key event that changed in alternate Asuna's timeline seems to be Leafa's death before SAO."

"The alternate Kirito seemed obsessed with me," Asuna said. "Obsessed with killing me, but it wasn't something like the other Asuna's timeline. He seemed to actually want me dead for some reason."

"He also wielded swords made from the bones of Wrath and Ruin," Kirito said. "And his level was extraordinarily high. And there was something vaguely familiar about that red glow he had."

Lisbeth blinked, and pulled Kirito to a stop before activating her Paladin mode, glowing bright red. "Like this, right?" she asked.

Kirito nodded, and Lisbeth deactivated her super state. "I didn't make that connection. He must have ascended to a boss class… a… Dragon Swordsman."

"I got a message!" the alternate Asuna said. The group stopped, and Asuna, hands still bound, opened it up and read it aloud. "It's from GothGod… 'Glad to see you're still alive, Asuna. Since you are, I have a proposition to you, to all of the alternate reality players I summoned in. At the moment, the cursor above your heads appears gray, but I have programmed you to have this ability. If you successfully kill your counterpart from this timeline, you will take their place. Your player cursor will turn green after fifteen days, and if I decide to end this game, you will wake up in their bodies and gain a real life. Good luck!"

"This… complicates things," Kirito said. "Now those other… us's will be gunning for us."

"Asuna," Asuna said to her fake. "Do you want to kill me now, knowing that?"

She shook her head. "No… my mission to kill Kirito isn't based on any in-game effects. If I wake up in the real world, in your body, I will still want to kill him. There's no escaping this fate, sadly, not until my mission is complete. If I believe Kirito is alive, then I will try to kill him. There'd be no point in me waking up in the real world… You don't have to worry about me killing you."

Kirito had resumed walking forward without thinking, and the next moment, the fake Asuna had turned and wrapped his neck in the rope, and was trying to choke him to death. "I'm so sorry!" she shouted as it happened. The rest of his friends went immediately to pull her off of him so he could go free. She fought, but after a while, he was too far away once more, and she stopped fighting. "I'm so so sorry!"

"It's okay," Kirito said. "I know you can't control it…"

"You're just like my Kirito," the false Asuna said. "Always forgiving no matter the circumstances. 'We'll figure this out,' he always used to tell me. You lack the same conviction he had though…"

"What do you mean?" Kirito asked.

The false Asuna looked between the real one and Kirito. "Once Sugou died, my mind started fixing itself. And despite everything, which is to say, despite me always trying to kill Kirito, we stayed in love. But I can sense something has gone terribly wrong between you two. It's just in the way you walk and talk… you don't treat each other any more special than the rest of your friends… From the outside looking in, one could confuse this for the alternate timeline… some horror story where you never fell in love." Kirito and Asuna both looked at her as she spoke, and felt a slight shiver fill their hearts.

Kirito moved on to the head of the party without saying anything further, and just before he walked into the official boundary of the Ring Forest, a huge wall of dark, purple energy shot up from it, right in front of his nose. The sweat dripped from his brow, and he took two steps backwards before collapsing and breathing heavily. The whole forest seemed to be covered, and after a few moments, the blast vanished.

"What… was that?" Lisbeth asked. Suddenly, everyone got a message from Eulsam, sent as a distress call. The message was extremely vague however, saying only that the players were needed in Newberg.

The next message came from Pegasus, and it was sent as an urgent alert to all players. "Stay out of the Kingdom of Newberg! Something has happened to the players there, and any calls for help to go to the city should be considered a trap! Again, DO NOT GO TO NEWBERG."

* * *

><p>Kirito and the others decided that they would have to go to Newberg anyways. The only way they knew how to end this was by slaying the Black Prophet. As they traveled through the Ring Forest, Ryun and his crew caught up to their targets, and when they were in their sights, they circled around the group to meet them at their front side.<p>

Sinon was the first to notice them, and as she drew an arrow, the rest of the players prepared to fight. Ryun approached the group, and had a pair of Black Steel Daggers drawn. "After all that's happened," Kirito said. "You player killers still have it out for us?"

"Of course we do," Ryun's second in command said. "We still owe you one for… everything."

Ryun saw Kirito and Asuna, and then another Asuna. That had him guessing but as he looked at them, he remembered seeing them before in the inn in Eastown two and a half years ago. He felt a strange feeling in his gut coming back. He remembered the situation, and that he let them go. "Wait," he said to his ally. "I remember these two…"

Kirito and Asuna didn't recognize him back. They looked at each other, and then back to Ryun. "I was in a group sent to kill them… over a year ago."

"Then let's finished what you started," the other man said as he charged. Ryun acted quickly, and slashed the attacker's throat before he got close. The man fell to the ground, and choked as his health drained from the bleed out effect.

"I said… wait!" Ryun shouted. The rest of his group looked at him. He seemed to be lost in thought.

"I do remember you," Kirito suddenly said. "You were the one who approached us when Asuna was giving birth… I convinced you not to kill us then. Do you think I could convince you again?"

"You let Kirito and Asuna live?" another member of the guild asked. "You… you're a traitor!"

"Shut up!" Ryun said. "I'm thinking…"

"I have to report you to the commander," that player said as she opened her inventory. Ryun turned and charged on her, attacking her and stopping the message. Kirito and the others figured that that was their queue, and all attacked the Red Hand. It was a quick battle, and once it was finished, only Ryun and the former slave girl were left alive.

"So," Kirito said as he looked down at Ryun, who had taken a seat on the ground. "What are you thinking about?"

"Kirito," Klein said. "He's still a player killer. He doesn't deserve to live…"

Ryun stood up, and shook his head. "I guess… you're right. I've killed many, and suffered more. You have the right to kill me if you want to, that would be justified. But, something happened when I met you two in that room. I began to doubt myself, and I forced myself to forget for the longest time. Seeing you again, here, all I could think was that you two would never see your child. Your child would never see you. It's the same reason I couldn't carry out my plan when I met you the first time…"

"Well, good for you," Leafa said. "How many other people did you kill? Were any of them mothers or fathers? Children? Brothers, sisters? You never once thought about that before?"

Ryun shook his head. "Red-Handed has a way of making players ignore these types of things."

"What's her story?" Sinon asked, looking to the other surviving member of Ryun's party.

"She was converted hours ago," Ryun explained. "We had only six slaves left, and couldn't take them with us, so we made them the offer to join us or die. She killed a rapist among the other slaves to join our guild."

"I thought you had your prospective members kill innocent people when they joined," Kirito said.

"Or torture them, at least," Asuna added.

Ryun shook his head. "We employ a variety of entry methods. What's important to us is that the entering player is able to commit these things upon someone they know. Their exact relationship doesn't matter much to us, but the closer the better."

"We used to be friends," the woman said. "Until he raped a mutual friend of ours, and drove her to suicide. I wanted to forgive him for a long time, especially after we were both captured and tortured by the Red Hand. But finally, I decided to take my revenge on him."

"The Red Hand eventually breaks or kills everyone…" Ryun said. "I cannot hope to be redeemed for the blood I have shed, and the lives I have destroyed. I have nothing I can do to atone for my sins, but I ask that you accept my peace offering anyways."

"Not a chance," Klein said.

Kirito put his swords away. "Okay." The group looked at him, a little surprised. He looked back at the rest of his group. "I think enough players have died in the last twenty-four hours. We're dragging around someone with us who wants to kill me, and we're desperate. I don't have a problem with getting help from someone who isn't trying to kill us."

"Thank you," Ryun said. "I owe you my life…"

"You spared Asuna's," Kirito said. "You don't owe us anything, I owed you. But now know this. I don't like you. When we get out of this world, I'll hope you get locked away for the rest of your life."

"That's reasonable," Ryun said.

Kirito started moving forward again. "Now, let's keep moving. We need to find out what exactly happened to Newberg."

* * *

><p>As the players entered the city of Newberg, things were very odd. Players stood around talking endlessly with each other, and those weren't talking were walking in circles around city blocks. Everyone was in a single, otherwise normal routine, on an endless loop. Kirito and the others tried not to look too closely at any of the players, not wanting to alarm them to their presence, hoping that they hadn't been noticed yet.<p>

As they made their way to the central keep, one of the few buildings standing at a proper angle, they stopped. When they stopped, every player around them looked at them funny. At that, they shuddered and kept walking forward. When they did, those players went back to whatever it they were pretending to do.

When they arrived in the keep, they saw Eulsam standing next to what appeared to be a newly constructed throne, made from bones. On the throne sat their target, GothGod. "Come in, come in!" he said, getting up to greet the players. "I'm so glad you could all join us here…"

"What have you done with them?" Asuna asked. "With the players?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," GothGod said. I won't be able to cast that spell again, it was kind of a one-time deal. Although with administrator privileges, I could force it to work once more if I so desired. I don't think I'll be needing it again…"

"What spell?" Kirito asked.

"Mass mind control," GothGod said. "You need the brain of a god to cast it, and those are not easy to come by, let me tell you."

"What are you doing?" Asuna asked. "What's the point of all of this?" The false Asuna was with them as well still, still tied up and behind the group.

"Well," the Black Prophet said. "Imagine what would happen, if I ended the game right now. Forced everyone to log out?" The players weren't following him. "The effects of the spell would linger on. Whatever command I give them here… will be followed in the real world."

"You'd have an army…" Lisbeth said. "But still… why?"

"I, like many people in this world, desire power above all else. And the power of my knowledge has been… well, maxed out. Now, I need people. I'm going to start a new age, my age, where everyone in both the real world and the virtual one, bows down to me."

"And then what?" Kirito asked. "You're insane. Where does it end?"

"I don't know," GothGod said. "I imagine it will be good for humanity in the long run. Once I have absolute control over Earth, I'll go out into the stars… To other universes. I'll have eternity to work out the details!"

"Eternity?" Asuna asked. "You really are insane. You won't be around long enough to see anything good come of this."

"Oh but I will. I have already done it. I am no longer attached to my mortal body in the real world. Here… in the virtual one, I have become God."

"More like the devil," Lisbeth said.

"We will stop you," Kirito said. "We won't give up until you're dead."

"Or until you're dead. I already showed you that you couldn't take me on. So what exactly was your plan, here, Kirito? You see, I'm not the one who isn't thinking straight. It's you who isn't thinking properly. Eulsam… order the VPG to kill our guests."

Eulsam opened his player menu, and sent out an order to all members of his guild. Guardsmen entered what had become the throne room, and they all drew weapons.

Kirito and the others drew their weapons, and looked around. "Kirito," Asuna said. "Are we going to kill them? They can't control their actions. They're our friends…"

"Well what are you waiting for?" GothGod asked. "Go on. Get them!" All of the guards charged in at once, and as Kirito and his group prepared to fight, they all found themselves suddenly outside of the city. Leafa had teleported them to safety.

"We need to get out of here," Leafa said. "Like… yesterday."

"I knew someone in Red Hand who knew how to break mind control spells," Ryun said as he started running south. "He's in our guild headquarters, and I trust him. He will help us!"

"Wait a minute!" Kirito shouted. "We can't go to your guild headquarters, are you crazy?"

Ryun stopped and turned back to them. "I know I don't have any reasons for you to, but I need you to trust me. You'll need allies, and I know where we can find them. I have a plan!"

The rest of the group mounted their horses, and Lisbeth unfurled her wings. Silica took the false Asuna's binds, and tied her up to his own mount. "You're riding with me," he said. She nodded, and Klein made sure to keep a good distance, at the back of the group, from Kirito who was at the front. Ryun hopped onto the back of Silica's pegasus, and the other Red Hand joined Sampson's.

"Where are we going?" Kirito shouted back as they started to fly.

"South," Ryun said. "We'll find a ship somewhere on the coast, and take it to Paradise City, our guild headquarters. Once we're on the ship… you won't like this part, but I'll invite you to join the Order of the Red Hand. It will raise questions, but it should keep people there from attacking you outright."

"We're joining a murder guild?" Asuna asked, looking over to Kirito.

"I guess so," Kirito said. "Desperate times…" He shook his head and they rode onward.

* * *

><p>When the group hit the shore, which was now much closer than it previously was, they landed near what looked to be an intact ship. It was a trireme that had been washed up onto the shore. The newest member of the Red Hand went to inspect the vessel. "What's her name?" Kirito asked Ryun. "I can see yours on your gamer tag, but hers is blank."<p>

"She is what we call nameless," Ryun said. "The Order changed how we raise slaves into guild members. When they're slaves, they have no names, but when they join our guild, they choose a new name for themselves, accessing the player console to put in their new name."

"You can do that?" Asuna asked.

Ryun nodded. "It was a feature that was patched into the AmuSphere just before the game began. The announcement never went out, but someone in the leading membership of the Order discovered it about the time they started the guild. You can still see a player's old names by looking them up in the player index, and if that player was on your friend or guild list, you'll get a message informing you of the change. You can only change once per month… she's still waiting to change hers."

"So she's just blank for now?" Kirito asked.

"For now," Ryun said. "I haven't asked yet what her new name will be."

"The ship is good to go," she said as she returned to the group. "We just need to push it back into the water somehow."

Sampson nodded, and so did Lisbeth. He went into his bull rage, and started to physically push the vessel towards the waters. At the same time, Lisbeth flew up, and grabbed hold of the front of the ship, flying with all of her strength towards the water. It took a good thirty seconds, but they managed it, and afterwards they were both exhausted.

"Those two are strong," Ryun said. "I never saw the Dragon Queen in person before, but I'd heard rumors about the player boss. Who is the other?"

"Sampson," Asuna said, pointing to him. "That's just a regular player ability."

"Incredible," Ryun said. "I've never seen that one before. What class is he?"

"Berserker, I think," Asuna said.

"Kirito!" they heard a voice shouted from the distance. Sinon pointed to the sky, where a pegasus was flying down towards them. On its back was Xaela, and then another horse landed, with Michiko. "Kirito, look out! Michiko's gone crazy!"

Michiko leapt from her horse, and started attacking Xaela without hesitation. Xaela quickly drew her weapons to defend herself but in a mere two strikes, both her spear and sword were knocked from her hands.

The rest of the group leapt into action, and all together, they were able to hold her down and take Michiko's weapons off of her. "Michiko!" Asuna shouted at her. "What's gotten into you?"

Michiko struggled, and shouted back. "Don't listen to her!" she shouted. "She attacked me!"

Kirito looked back, and Xaela had picked up her weapons, and was charging to attack. Kirito and Asuna jumped from Michiko to Xaela, and disarmed her before holding her down. "Don't listen to her!" Xaela shouted. "She's the evil one here!"

Silica sighed, and pulled out more rope. A few moments later, both of the girls were tied up, sitting on the ground with arms behind their back. "Okay," Asuna said. "One of you is lying and the other telling the truth."

"Oh, I know this one!" Sampson jumped in, and took the lead. "What would the other one say if we asked that person who was under the effects of the mind control?"

They both stared blankly at Sampson. "I don't know!" Michiko said back. "That's not how this works!"

"Neither of them have a buff for the mind control, and both of their wills are dropped to zero," Kirito said. "So maybe they're both lying and they're both under the effects of mind control?"

"Then why are they fighting each other?" Asuna asked.

"I have adjusted my plan to account for this," Ryun said, suddenly. Everyone looked at him. "Regardless of their condition, we were all planning on infiltrating Paradise City anyways. Just make it out like these are our prisoners, same with the… the other Asuna."

"Works for me," Kirito said. "Let's get on the ship and go…"

"P-paradise city?" Michiko said. "What the hell did I miss out on? Why is there two Asuna's? What's going on here?"

"It's a long story," the false Asuna said. "I'll explain on the way!"

The group started to load up onto the ship, taking the 'prisoners' first and sitting them on the deck of the ship. Once everyone was on board, they set sail for the south.

* * *

><p>On the bow of the ship, Asuna sat alone, looking out on the horizon. All around them now was nothing but water. She opened up her player menu, and accessed her saved message drafts. She read that message once more, and looked back to the others as they shared stories with one another.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Year 3, Month 3, Day 2<em>

Eulsam and Asuna were together in bed, and were cuddled up with one another. "How was it?" Eulsam asked softly.

Asuna nodded to him, and kissed his cheek. "It was good," she said.

"Do you know when you'll go back to Kirito?" he asked.

"I don't…"

Eulsam took a few moments before speaking again. "Ever?"

"I don't know…"

"Do you see a future where it's just us?" Eulsam finally asked.

Asuna thought about it for a few moments, and then nodded slowly. "Yes…"

* * *

><p><em>Present Day<em>

Asuna saw Kirito approaching her, and she looked at the message one last time. She mouthed the words she had written down, and then stood up and turned to face Kirito. "Kirito," she said after closing her player menu. She was nervous, and Kirito could see that something was bugging her.

"What is it?"

But as she started to speaking, she stopped, and shook her head. "No," she said. "It's nothing."

Kirito had Ryun's dagger in his right hand. He took it, and cut the palm of his left hand, only slightly. It hurt. The pain absorbers were still set to a mere twenty percent, and he flinched. After he did it, his right hand turned red. "We have to look the part," he said before handing Asuna the dagger.

After taking it, she looked at him, and gazed into his eyes for a moment. She was still uncertain about everything. But now, she thought, she was making her decision.

"What is it, Asuna?" Kirito said after a few seconds.

Her stare turned into a smile, and she hugged him close. "I love you," she whispered into his ear before breaking away from him. He smiled, and said those words back before turning and going back to the group, where they were discussing their plans. After Asuna cut her palm, and turned her right hand red, she opened that draft up again, and hit a button to delete it. A confirmation bubble popped up, and she hit again to delete it. After the message was erased, she followed Kirito back to the others.


	30. Chapter 30: Certainty (Act II Finale)

The ship, which was a Red Hand ship and bore Red Hand banners, docked on the northern edge of Paradise Island, the location of the Order's home base, Paradise City. The city encompassed the entire island, but the northern edge was the least populous.

"Alright," Kirito said. "Lisbeth, Sampson, Silica… you stay here and watch the ship. We'll need to beat a hasty retreat once we find Ryun's man. Keep any of our… prisoners from escaping." The three of them nodded, and the rest of the group left the ship and went out from the docks to the shore.

"I'm going to take us on the least traveled routes," Ryun said. "Your presence and membership in the guild will stir up questions, so the less people we run into, the better." He led them on a winding path that went into a small wooded area. There were a handful of Red Hand on the shores, but none seemed to notice the group coming in.

As the group of them moved through the woods, they stopped. Ryun sent his friend a message, and moments later he got a response. "Alright," Ryun said, "This way…"

Before he could continue to lead the group on, Asuna stopped him. "Wait," she said. "How do we know we can trust him?"

"We're friends," Ryun said. "We can trust him."

"That may be good enough for you," Kirito said. "But for all we know, you could be leading us into a trap."

"And you're just now raising these concerns?" Ryun asked. "We need to move…" Ryun kept on moving, and the others followed him, but with great caution.

They went from the small jungle into another part of the city, what appeared to be something of a small square, and they entered an inn. All around were players, many of them Red Hand, but many of them not. It struck Kirito and his group by surprise, as these other players who appeared to be slaves were able to walk around freely, and other than their position in the Order's caste, they seemed to be acting normally.

The group sat down at a table in a back, private room. "What's the deal with this place?" Kirito asked. "You're a murder guild who practices slavery, but for slaves… your non-guild-members seem pretty…"

"When the Order began," Ryun explained, "There were a few changes in policies regarding slaves. We still try to break them, psychologically speaking, but we aren't so direct about it. There's two classes of slaves in their ranks. The high slaves are the ones who agree to serve us, without question, but do not wish to become killers or torturers. They are… more or less complacent in their position. The low slaves are mostly new slaves. They are not complacent, and they still fight. We torture them and try to break them into becoming a part of us. They always have a choice to join us or the high slaves. Their faith in freedom keeps them in their low position, while their constitution prevents them from joining our ranks."

"This is horrible," Asuna said. "You're just evil… How can you talk like that with a straight face?"

Ryun shrugged. "I was broken too, once. It has made me indifferent to the suffering of others."

"Blank," Sinon said, looking to the other Red Hand. "You just recently joined them. How do you feel about all of this?"

Blank looked at her, and shook her head. "I don't care anymore. Before everything was destroyed, I had been a slave for the better part of a year. I watched all of my friends turn on each other to save themselves, and I myself have been stabbed, beaten and treated horribly by those once considered my friends. I thought for so long about how awful my situation was, about how I would kill myself or about how I would make sure that they never forgot what they did to me when the game finally ended… but then the slave town was swallowed up by a canyon and fire. They are all dead now. Most of the people I knew in this game, whether they were good or bad, have likely suffered the same fate. I had faith once… but when I saw so many lives taken in such little time, I lost it. There's no point in being good or bad, it gets us nowhere. I decided that the only rational thing left to do was to survive."

"Oh shit…" Ryun said, reading a message. "Don't panic… but we're in trouble."

"What happened?" Kirito asked.

After he said that, the inn was invaded by more than two dozen Red Hand soldiers, and. "What do we do?" Asuna asked.

"Uhh… uhh," Ryun looked around. "They won't kill you outright. They'll want to know why you're suddenly guild members. They'll ask a lot of questions about me and how you got here. You… go with them, and I'll find my friend."

Kirito jumped up and pulled out his weapons. "Like hell you will!" he shouted. "I knew we couldn't count on you!"

"I'll bring him back to the ship," Ryun said as he got up from the table and backed away from Kirito. "You five," he was talking to Kirito, Asuna, Klein, Leafa and Sinon. "…there's a main dock on the western end of the city. You'll make it, I have faith in you."

After that, the Red Hand made their way to their table, and held their weapons out. "Lower your weapons, Kirito!" one of them shouted. It was a woman, and she walked forward slowly. "You're so heavily outnumbered right now that even if you could take us all on, you'd be fighting for hours and hours just to get back to the shore."

Kirito grit his teeth, and then sheathed his swords. "Alright," he said. "What do you want?"

"To talk," the woman said. "My name is Vice Commander Talia. Long story short, I'm not convinced of your sudden change of heart and your decision to join the Order of the Red Hand. So if you'll be so kind, I'd like to take this conversation to the capitol offices." She then looked to Ryun. "And you. Go write up a report on what happened to our slave town in the Dune Sea. I expect it to be on my desk by morning."

"Yes ma'am!" Ryun said before beating a hasty retreat, and dragging Blank with him.

* * *

><p>In the vice commander's office in the capitol building of Paradise City, the five players all sat around the room as Talia sat behind a wooden desk. "Okay, so," she said. "After years of us hunting you, you decided to join us instead. Why is that?"<p>

Kirito looked at her, and then to the rest of his group. He shrugged. "You wouldn't believe it if we told you," he said.

"Try me…"

Kirito sighed. "Okay… Death Oath, another player killer guild, turned all of the players in Newberg into mind slaves. We need to stop GothGod, their leader, except he now commands the largest army ever assembled."

Talia looked at him, and blinked. "Still not sure how that leads to you joining the Red Hand."

"Guys…" Kirito said, looking to the others. "Back me up here."

"Uh," Klein thought for a moment, and then spoke. "Yeah," he finally said. "GothGod killed Mother Earth, and caused the end of the world. So… now, we want to go and fight him, and figure out a way to free all of the players of the mind control."

"But we can't get close enough to him!" Asuna chimed in. "He has an army of innocent players who we don't want to kill."

"And," Leafa said. "We joined the Red Hand so that we could meet with you without your entire guild trying to kill us." The advantage the lie had was that they were actually telling the truth.

"I'm sorry to say that you cannot become members of this guild like that," Talia said. "You haven't undergone the psychological conditioning that the rest of us have… the conditioning that's turned us into the fiercest warriors in the game. Did Ryun allow you to join the guild?"

Kirito nodded. "Yes. He got us into the guild after he couldn't kill us. He used it as a bargaining chip to save his own life, promising us a meeting with the Red Hand leadership."

Talia laughed at them, and called for her guards who waited outside.

"So… do you believe us?" Klein asked.

"Of course not," Talia said. "Guards, please take them into custody. Bring them out into the courtyard and cut their heads off.

At that, Leafa casted her mass disarm spell, and suddenly everyone who was armed in the room, that is, only Talia and her guards, were disarmed, and knocked to the ground. The players ran from the room and quickly headed for the door. As they did, they drew their weapons, and started fighting their way out.

A Red Hand soldier charged for them with a large axe. Kirito slid on his knees under the swing, and Asuna killed him in one shot with her spear. As Kirito reached the end of his slide, he hopped up, and made two quick slashed at another approaching enemy, and then another who came from the side, killing both with ease.

As they ran through the halls and towards the front doors of the building, more approached. Sinon fired arrows at a few of them, killing them with headshots, and Klein performed his Quickdraw on more of them as he moved along. The Red Hand guards and soldiers were absolute cannon fodder compared to Kirito and his team.

Leafa didn't even need to heal the group, she focused on casting knockback spells and other minor attacks while conserving her mana. It wasn't long before the five of them were running through the city streets. More and more Red Hand attacked them, but they were no match. Archers started taking positions on rooftops. They fired away at Kirito and the others, but most of their shots missed. The ones that hit merely grazed them, and Leafa's healing was fast enough to keep them at full health.

Sinon would fire an arrow here and there at the shooters that looked to be a little higher in levels. As they ran, they quickly made their way down the steady incline and to the docks. Now, adding to the mix, there were flame sorcerers. The first fireball nearly hit Asuna, but she stopped and jumped back at the last second, just before running onto one of the docks. "This way!" Kirito shouted, already moving towards a different dock.

"Hold your fire!" someone shouted. "Don't use fireballs on our own city you morons!"

The group of heroes made their way to a boat, and jumped onto it. It was another trireme, and the players already on it were quickly kicked and thrown off into the water. More Red Hand were on their way, charging towards them from the docks. Sinon picked them off one by one, and Leafa assisted her while the other three pulled down the ship's sails. Once they were down and the anchor was up, Leafa casted a spell on the ship's sails, making them fill as if full of wind, and carry the boat out to sea.

As the ship sailed out, the fireballs started to rain down again. Leafa used small shields to stop the attacks mid-air, and Sinon helped her by firing arrows at incoming projectiles. Slowly but surely, the group had gotten away, fleeing into the seas.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Ryun had gathered his friend up, and was heading back for the ship that the group arrived on. On the way out, the word had gotten down that he was a fugitive, and his guild mates soon started to attack him as he ran for shore.<p>

His friend was a voodoo master though, and so he was casting numerous spells on attackers, making them miss, aim at the wrong players, and close their eyes. Voodoo was all about simple tricks to thwart an enemy. Voodoo practitioners were also the leading experts in performing and breaking charms. This man's name was Doc.

"So," Doc said. "You got yourself in trouble with the leadership?"

"Yeah," Ryun said as they ran. "I found Kirito and Asuna, and I let them live. And I brought them here."

"Good job," Doc said. "So now we're on our own side?"

"Now we're on their side!"

"Kirito and Asuna's side? That's a dangerous side to be on, don't you think?"

Ryun nodded and laughed as her charged onto the boat. "I know, I know," he said. "But hey, at least we're bound to have some great adventures."

"And we can be done with this slavery nonsense," Doc said as he walked onboard. "Speakin of which. Blank, was it?"

"That's… what they started calling me," she said.

"No hard feelings, right?"

She shook her head. "Nope," she said. "Just survive in a world of kill or be killed."

"Where is Kirito… Asuna… where is everyone?" Lisbeth asked as the three of them climbed aboard.

"Gone," Doc said. "They'll make some other way out. We have to go…" Ryun and Blank were already getting the ship set to sail.

"We can't leave without them!" Lisbeth shouted. Then she got a message, and read it. "Oh… they're out. Let's go!" She unfurled her wings, and wrapped her tail around the bow of the ship to pull it out into the sea as fast as she could, just to get it going. A short while later, the wind kicked in, and she returned to the deck of the ship.

"What happened?" Silica asked.

"They got captured," Ryun said. "But I told them how to escape, and left the rest to them. I knew they'd be fine, they're like level one hundred and something. There's maybe one or two plus one-hundreds in our whole guild."

"Where are the mind-controlled friends of yours?" Doc asked. "I got something special for them." Silica waved him on, and he followed her into the sole cabin at the back end of the ship, where the three players were tied up. Doc approached Xaela first, and took one good look at her. He pulled out a magical powder, and threw it against her face.

"Hey!" Xaela shouted, springing awake. She coughed a little bit, and shook her head. "What the hell was that for?"

"It lets me see things that can't normally be seen," Doc said. "Like hidden buffs… you're clean."

"If you throw that in my face, I'll kill you," Michiko said. Doc didn't pay any bit of attention to her threat, and did it anyways. Around her vitals appeared a mind control icon. Michiko growled at him after she got over the coughing fit.

"They got you, didn't they," Doc said. "I hope they can't see what's happening through you right now." He took out another set of items, a dream catcher and something like a doll. He started speaking in strange words, and a strange black mist flowed from Michiko, through the dream catcher, and into the doll. After that, the doll burned up in a flash of fire. "Better?"

Michiko looked dizzy, and then passed out, falling asleep. "Does that mean we can untie them now?" Silica asked.

"Looks like you've got one more I should check out," Doc said.

Silica shook her head. "She's got a different problem… it's a long, complicated story."

"Can you untie us already?" Xaela asked. Doc and Silica both went to untying the three of them. When they finished, Xaela rubbed her wrists, and then went over to Michiko. She shook her head. "She's better now, right?"

"Should be," Doc said. He untied the alternate Asuna, and she rubbed her wrists once she was free, and stood up to stretch. "So, what's your story, then?" He looked at her player cursor, and raised a brow. "I've never seen that before."

"I'll tell you later," she said. "I need some sunshine. Where's Kirito? Wait… don't tell me that. H'es not on the boat, obviously though, right?"

Silica nodded to her. "We went our separate ways for now. Our party is split up at the moment." She followed the fake Asuna out of the cabin, and Doc followed her.

Soon after, Michiko woke up, and looked up at Xaela, who was cradling her rather lovingly. "Xaela…" she muttered. "What happened?"

Xaela brushed her hair out of her face, and let out a deep sigh. "You were caught in a mass mind control spell. It's been a few days, but we managed to get you free."

"Mass… what?" Michiko asked. She was coming too, but stayed where she was, rather enjoying being held in Xaela's lap.

"We split from Kirito's group to go find your guild, but then you got a message that they went to Newberg to see what was wrong. When we started walking back, something happened. Everyone in the Kingdom of Newberg and the Ring Forest was caught in GothGod's spell, a mass mind control."

Michiko blinked up at her. "That's got to be like… at least three quarters of all of the players in the game. But you got everyone free. That's good. Does that mean the fighting is over?"

Xaela shook her head and frowned. "No," she said. "Just you. When you weren't in control, you attacked me, and I fled to go find Kirito. When I did, you followed me, and they were able to subdue you."

Michiko groaned, and held her head as the memories started coming back to her. It was painful. "I'm starting to remember," she muttered. The pain suddenly stopped. "I remember a little bit. I'm so sorry, Xaela… I never wanted to hurt you."

Xaela nodded, and smiled at her. "It's okay, you didn't. We made it out alive and we fixed you. It took some help from a rather… unexpected place, though." Michiko blinked at her. "Strange as it sounds, a few renegade Red Hand members helped us out."

"Red Hand?" Michiko asked. "No… they can't be trusted…" She started to get up, but Xaela pushed her back down. "What?"

"It's fine," Xaela said. "Just let yourself get some rest, okay? I can be your pillow if you want…" Michiko looked up at Xaela, and then looked a little farther down, to her chest. Xaela blushed, her cheeks turning red and she stared back at Michiko. "Pervert…" she said, dumping the woman off of her lap a couple seconds later.

"Aww," Michiko said before sitting upright. "Is it perverse to find the woman I love sexually attractive though? It seems normal to me."

Xaela blinked, and wrapped her arms over her chest. "Stop that," she said, her blush growing stronger. "You're making me feel… gross."

Michiko sighed, and stood up. "Right," she said. "You can't deal with the fact that I like you, even though you're totally jealous of the things Kirito and I have done."

Xaela let her arms down, and shook her head. "Actually," she said. "I think… I think I may have gotten over that, just a little bit."

"Good. Jealousy is petty and unattractive."

"Not that," Xaela said.

Michiko looked down at her, and smiled brightly. "You mean… that?"

Xaela nodded slowly, and after she said "Yes… that," and admitted her feelings, she felt much less embarrassed about it. "I'm sorry, Michiko. The way I've treated you, the way I've acted… it was all wrong. I was wrong. My faith is… bad."

Michiko blinked, and sat down with Xaela. With her hand cupping her chin, she directed the other woman's gaze to her own. "Xaela," Michiko said. "Your faith was never wrong. It was your doubt."

Xaela blinked at her. "What?"

Michiko moved her hand to Xaela's body, pressing her palm just over her breast. "How much faith could you have really ever had in a book when you doubted what was in your own heart? You see… your faith wasn't wrong, just misplaced. You put all of it into what other people believed without ever bothering to ask or figure out what it was you believed in."

Xaela nodded slowly. "Thanks," she said. "That… really helped."

Michiko nodded. "I've really put in a lot of thought about what to say to you on the matter. I didn't expect it to come down to just that, so… I kind of have more to tell you now."

Xaela giggled at her. "Go on, then…"

"Okay so like… Another thing I thought of saying was along the lines of… you believed that the words of the book were true, even when your own heart told you a different truth. You know, like, would you believe words on a page over your own heart in matters of love?"

"Yeah, I get it," Xaela said, laughing a little more.

Michiko smiled at her laughter, and kept going on. "Or how'bout this one: If the truth is supposed to set you free… see, throwing a verse in there now… then how come so much of what you believed to be true ended up being like more of a prison?"

Xaela shook her head, and pulled Michiko closer to her. She leaned in and gave the woman a kiss. It was nothing at first, but Michiko wasn't going to let her love escape now. She wrapped her arms around Xaela's head and held her tight into the smacking of their lips and tangling of tongues. It would have gone on longer except they were interrupted by Ryun, who had walked back into the cabin and started watching. "Alright!" he shouted. "As much as I'd love to watch more of this, we've got news from Kirito and the others."

Xaela and Michiko broke apart in a bit of a shocked and embarrassed gasp. Afterwards, Ryun went back out, and Xaela and Michiko followed him out to the deck.

"Alright," Lisbeth said once they arrived. "Here's the plan. Kirito's group is going to head northwest, and go back to the Fountain of Silver Lights to harvest more Silver Steel. They'll use Leafa's teleportation magic to transfer what they harvest over to us, and I'll smith it out into weapons. Meanwhile, we'll be heading northeast. Most of the dragons flew that direction, and I still have control over them if I get close enough. An army of dragons would be helpful in our efforts against Death Oath."

"I'm certain it would," Xaela said. "But let's not forget that the population of Newberg consists of innocent people. We can't just burn through them, blazing a trail to GothGod."

"Then comes in us," Doc said. "I'll be going with you two, the first objective will be to find my new brothers and sisters of the Black Wardens, and bring them back out of the mind control. If you've got any voodoo skills, I can teach you the proper spells to bring them out of the control of the Black Prophet."

"Brothers… and sisters?" Michiko asked. "But you're a player killer. We're headhunters!"

Doc then bowed on one knee before Michiko. "I admit I've made mistakes, and I have no atonement for the sin I committed in hurting others. But if you would have me, I would proudly join your guild, Michiko."

Michiko looked down at him, and thought about it. Xaela followed suite, bowing to her next to him. "Michiko," she said. "You have forgiven me as well, for many of the same crimes. You've even fallen in love with me. If you cannot accept him because of that, then you should kill us both right now… I as well wish to join your guild. I can't stay with the VPG, since with Eulsam under their control, they can track my location without my consent. The Black Wardens though… would make an excellent new home."

The Black Warden nodded slowly, and smiled at the two of them. "You raise a valid point," she said. "I will accept your offer. But I expect you both to prove yourselves."

"Anything," Doc said.

"You already know of my loyalty to you," Xaela said.

"No, not as a onetime ceremonial rite of passage. When I say prove yourselves, I mean forever. As long as you are a member of the Black Wardens, you must dedicate everything to helping the victims of player killers, and bringing those who commit such travesties to justice. As a Black Warden, you are no longer yourself, but you are the very hammer of God, the name of justice in this cruel world. Will you accept?" Michiko put on her full set of gear, reequipping her helmet, which masked her identity and voice. Her name once again read Mokatso.

"I do," Doc said.

"Always…" Xaela said. Michiko opened her player menu, and sent the two of them a guild invitation. Doc accepted, but Xaela looked up at her funny. "I… I didn't get it?" she said.

Michiko shook her head. Behind her face mask, she rolled her eyes. "You did leave the VPG first, right?"

"Oh, right! Duh!" Xaela then opened her player menu, and left her former guild. Michiko resent the invitation, and she accepted it.

"Well," Ryun said. "With that settled, Blank and I have a mission of our own. We're going to go around to try and flip more of the Red Hand. We've sent out a mass message to everyone saying that what happened in Newberg also happened to Paradise City. It should… create quite a bit of confusion at the very least. Those who believe that little fib would be more likely to fall… nay, rally to my leadership. I'll turn them all from player killers into the redeemed army of murderers."

"At the very least," Blank said. "We intend to free a lot of slaves, and start a revolution. It could take some time, but we can promise at least a small army should you ever need one."

"Alright then," Lisbeth said. "I'll let Kirito know what we're up to. Asuna…"

"Hai?" the false Asuna asked.

"You'll stay with us, as far away from Kirito as possible. You'll make a valuable addition to our team."

"Actually, I had an idea," she said.

"What's that?" Sampson asked her.

"There's still that evil Kirito out there somewhere. They don't know that I haven't accepted the offer to try and kill the real Asuna. It would be a wonderful opportunity to remove a very powerful enemy from the game for you guys."

"But," Michiko said. "But you're okay with that? Going after Kirito? I know it's an evil Kirito from a screwed up timeline, but it's still Kirito. Are you sure you're okay with that?"

"Of course!" Asuna said. "It's perhaps the one good thing that can come from all of my hardship. I will do what I was made to do, and kill the evil Kirito. Plus… from what I gathered, he's a higher level than any of you, even the real Kirito. No one has a better chance than I do, then…"

"Alright," Michiko said. "As long as you're okay with it, I suppose it's your decision."

Lisbeth sent the message out to Kirito, and the group sailed onward to the northeast.

* * *

><p>On Kirito's boat, the group received the message, and sent back a simple "OK." They looked on to the northwest, and where their adventures would take them next. Asuna approached Kirito who stood at the front of the ship, looking out over the horizon. She held his hand, and the two of them smiled.<p>

"Kirito," she said.

Kirito looked to her.

"I… when I saw you fall, back when we were fighting and the world fell apart…"

"What was it?" Kirito asked.

"I have to be honest," Asuna said. "I was going to say no."

"No what?"

"I was going to say that I didn't love you. But when you fell, I felt my heart sink, and I knew I was wrong. I do still love you. After everything that happened, I began to doubt myself… and us. But I never felt so relieved that you were alive and well after that."

"It's okay, Asuna," Kirito said. "I always had enough love for the both of us, remember? And so did you. When we both started to lose a little, we still had more than enough…"

Asuna smiled. "I never want to leave you again…"

Kirto took her and they shared a kiss as the sun started to shine through the ashen clouds above.


	31. Chapter 31: Psychopath (Act III Opening)

_December 8__th__, 2028. Negative 23 Days._

The school bells rang, and the students all left their classrooms to beat a hasty retreat to the bus stops. One student was in no hurry to leave. His hair was dyed black, and was cut long, hanging in front of one eye. He wore an oversized black sweater, and older one with a band logo on the front of it, and black cargo pants.

Outside, he sat on one of the benches, waiting at the loop for his bus to roll by. He was joined by a couple of his friends. They wore similar outfits, and were into similar things. One was a girl, looking to be a freshman, and she wore a skirt with a chain. The other was a boy, older than the first one, and his hair was gelled up into spikes.

"Will you be on tonight?" the boy asked. He was fat. "We can't really do this one without you."

He shook his head. "No," he said. "I have a therapy session."

"Your mom sucks," the girl said.

"I'll let her know…"

* * *

><p>"Cory," a man said. They were in a dark room, a psychiatrist's office. Cory, the boy, sat in a chair, and looked down. "Cory, are you listening to me?"<p>

"Yes," he said. "I'm always listening but you never say anything worth responding to."

"I heard your grades are improving. Can you tell me about that?"

"There's not much to tell. Class got easier." Cory looked up at the man, who wore a suit. He was aging and his hair and the beard on his chin were all turning grey, and he wore glasses. Cory looked up at the analog clock on the wall as it ticked away at time. Five minutes in, it would be a long session.

"Your mother told me that you were doing your homework the other day. She said it was odd, that you normally don't do your assignments outside of school."

"I don't need to, they're easy."

"If they're easy, then why are you so close to failing your courses?"

"I don't do them…"

The man leaned back, and rubbed his chin. "Why not?"

"They're too easy."

"Right," the man said. "So what you're saying is… if they were more challenging, you would put forth more effort?" Cory nodded. "Well, what's your best subject?"

"Math."

"And you're in… trigonometry, right?"

"Yeah. It's easy."

The man pulled over his iPad, and pulled up a screen with some basic trigonometry problems on it. He handed it towards Cory, but he didn't take it. "I want you to try these," he said.

"Why?" Cory glanced at the screen.

"I want to see that you can do them."

Cory sighed, and took the iPad. He read over the equations and looked up at the older man. "Four and… four and three quarters, about. I would need a calculator to find the exact answer."

Cory's psychiatrist took the iPad back. Scrolling down revealed an answer key. The answer to the equation pulled up: 4.781. "You are correct," he said. "Let's try something a little more challenging." The doctor pulled up a different equation. This one had a lot more pieces to the puzzle, and some of those pieces included imaginary numbers. "Try this one…" He handed the iPad back to Cory.

Cory looked at it for a few seconds after taking it back. It took him a little longer this time. "Negative… negative seven i." The doctor took it back once more, and nodded at it being the correct answer. "It wasn't that hard."

"You spend a lot of time playing video games, right?"

"Yes. I have an AmuSphere, and my friends wanted me to help them raid a dungeon today, but I couldn't because I'm here instead."

"Do you find those games more challenging than the things you do in the real world?"

"A little bit," Cory said. "But they're pretty easy. I like to fight player versus player more than anything though. Other players are always harder to beat. Plus…"

The man waited for him to continue, but he didn't. "Plus what?"

"It's the closest I can get to really killing someone without being arrested." Cory looked up at the doctor, and the man didn't flinch. "And I remember reading the reports on Sword Art Online. I kind of wish I was there."

"You would have been much younger. What if you didn't survive?"

"I would have."

"How do you know, though?"

"Because I'm smarter than everybody else. I know more, and knowledge is power. It would have been fun."

"With your life at risk every day for two years?"

Cory nodded. "That would have been a real challenge."

* * *

><p><em>January 1<em>_st__, 2029. Day 1._

A crowd of players was gathered just outside of the area that would soon become Newberg City. At the head of the group, Kirito himself was speaking, developing a plan to get players organized and working together. "Right." A man had stood up from the crowd, to question Kirito's authority. "Who put you in charge?"

They don't know who they're talking to, do they? Cory asked this question to himself in his head. He looked down at the crowd, and then to the man standing, and then to Kirito, the legend himself. "I say we hold an election! We don't even know who he is? Is he qualified to tell us what to do?" The same person spoke again. He was arrogant. Cory hated him already.

"Yes," Kirito started to speak back, but was cut off by the man once again.

"You're just a nobody!" Cory heard him say. He was getting other players to nod in agreement while Kirito wasn't even allowed to talk. It had to be stopped. Cory stood up from the crowd.

"He's not nobody! Don't you know who you're talking to? I sure do… That is a SAO veteran." Cory shouted back at the man. He thought about this for a moment. If people thought Kirito was a nobody, then surely they wouldn't trust him. He had to establish himself somehow, so he lied. "Kirito, I remember him from my own time in that game. A legend among the lower levels. A soldier on the front lines who single-handedly defeated a floor boss on the sixty-fouth floor!"

"It was the seventy—" Kirito started to speak again, but Cory interrupted him now.

"Even better! A ten armed demon with three heads! And it breathed ice!" The crowd, quite impressed with this feat, starting talking amongst themselves. Cory sat down. He shouldn't have spoken so much. Already his lie was nearly uncovered, and he couldn't let anyone know he was a liar.

Then, as the rambling went on, Cory heard what sounded to him like an angel, fierce and beautiful. When he looked down to see who talked, he was delighted to see her as beautiful in the virtual flesh as she was in voice. "Quiet!" she shouted. What was her name? He looked down to her, and squinted: Asuna.

Asuna, he thought, he would make her his and his alone. From the moment she heard her speak, he was in love.

* * *

><p><em>December 21<em>_st__, 2028. Negative 19 Days._

In the virtual world of New Aincrad, Cory led his small group of friends towards the boss at the sixty-third floor. In addition to the two he knew from school, there were seven in his party, and he led them. The younger girl from high school walked right next to him. "Hey Cory," she said.

"Yeah?" he asked her.

"Happy birthday." She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks," he said.

They stopped at the boss door, and Cory turned to address his small party. "On this day," he said. "Sixteen years ago, I was born. Do you know what day that was?"

The players seemed to shrug. Only Cory's closer friends, the two of them, seemed to know. "December twenty-first, twenty-twelve… was the day the world was supposed to end. Instead, I was born." The players had a little chuckle at him. "Okay, so… maybe my birth didn't stop the end of the world, but I do find a certain poetic value in that fact. From a day that was supposed to be full of death… I came to life. Do you know what I want for my birthday?"

The players shook their heads. Cory smiled. "I want my name on that wall," he said. "Who's ready for this?" They all cheered, and he turned to charge into the boss room.

* * *

><p>After the game, Cory logged off, and got up from his bed to go brush his teeth. He smiled, and pumped his fist before grabbing a tooth brush. The room he lived in, as well as the bathroom, was filthy. Clothes were on the floor, and stains covered floors and counters. He looked up at the mirror, cracked and sighed. There was a blood stain at the middle of the crack where he had punched the glass in anger. It was right over his left eye.<p>

He brushed his teeth, and when he was finished he spat into the sink, and didn't bother to rinse it down with water. He looked back up at the mirror. For a split second, he saw himself as something different. His face was swollen and disfigured, appearing dead with bugs crawling over it, and behind him in the mirror he saw the grim reaper. He shouted out and nearly hit the glass again, but stopped himself.

He had woken his mother, who was now shouting for him. He could hear his little sister start to cry shortly after. He left the bathroom and locked his bedroom door. His mother started bang on it angrily. He didn't answer, and dropped onto a mattress on the floor to go to sleep. On the floor next to his bed sat a journal, and it was opened to a page where he had a sketch and personal notes.

At the top of the page was a skull, large and taking up the entire top half, and its mouth was opened. From its mouth came a scroll and on it was written these words: "When Death arrives and ask of me to fly, to him I'll say 'I will never die."

* * *

><p><em>Year 1, Month 5, Day 4<em>

Asuna walked through the Bonechill Mountains to the northwest of Pinewood. As she crossed a certain path and made a certain turn, she found herself looking at a player, sitting on a rock and wielding what appeared to be a wooden staff. This player was cloaked, and as she cautiously approached, he tapped his staff to the floor, and got up to turn around. "Asuna," he said.

Asuna blinked, and stopped. "Who are you?" She looked up at his in-game information, but none of it appeared. His level and name were blocked out from her view.

"I am…" he started and stopped. "My name is Cory. I've been wanting to meet you for a long time."

"That's a little creepy," she said. "Why have you been wanting to meet me?"

Cory looked up at her. His face was uncovered. "You're very pretty," he said. "I've always wanted to talk to a pretty girl."

Asuna took a step back, and drew her sword slowly. "Still creepy. What do you want?"

"Oh," he said. "Don't act that way. I hate it when girls act that way…" He tapped his staff again to the ground and took a step towards her once more. "Just talk to me. I want to talk."

"About what?"

"I don't know," Cory rubbed his chin, trying to think of something. "Oh, you're a cook, right? What kind of things can you cook?"

Asuna tilted her head. "Lots of stuff," she said. "You're really weird. Why are we doing this?"

"Cook me something!" he said. "I have all kinds of ingredients."

"I'm a little busy right now," Asuna said. "I'm looking for something important."

"What is it? I can help you find it!"

Asuna thought for a moment. He clearly couldn't be trusted, but perhaps she could use this line of questioning to get him to rejoin Kirito and the others. "A resurrection item. We lost a friend of ours recently and so—"

"I can help," Cory said. "No, really. I can. I have become a master at witchcraft, voodoo, and other forms of black magic. I know dozens of ways to bring someone back from the dead."

Asuna blinked, and went to sheath her sword. Maybe… maybe she couldn't trust him, but if he was telling the truth, it would be worth a shot. "Tell me more. I need to know if I can trust you."

"They're complicated, and require a lot of items from dungeons. And I have an interest in many of them myself. If you help me clear the dungeons to get these items, I can create a hex that will cause your friend's body to rise up from the ground. This is only temporary, mind you. They would be in a state of purgatory. The player would be bound to the body as long as the body is kept up properly. It is more of a way of delaying the inevitable until a more permanent solution can be found."

"That could work," Asuna said. "How would the… the body need to be maintained?"

"I could do that too. Just more magic, really. Maybe a few sewing needles and bolts, but it would work."

"I'll tell my friends," Asuna said. She opened her player menu.

"No, wait," Cory said. "I don't want you to do that."

"Why not?" Asuna was growing uneasy again. "You're acting pretty strange."

"If you do," he said. "If you bring others here, I will have no choice but to make you forget our conversation, and then vanish."

"Why?" Asuna's unease had turned to outright frustration.

"Because… I don't trust people. One person, I can cast so many hexes and charms that they won't be able to remember their first name. But more than one… more than one and I am in danger."

"They're not going to hurt you if you can bring our friend back to life."

"They will if they can recognize me. You would if you could recognize me. I am a wanted man."

"Wanted how?"

"I will be truthful with you," Cory said. "I am a murderer. I have killed players, and not for any good reason. I will continue to do so in the future, and I will tell you right now that if you have the interest of the players in heart, you should kill me now while you still can."

Asuna blinked and drew her weapon again. "You're very confusing. And if that's true, I can't trust you no matter what. But if it's true, why would you tell me that?"

"Like I said," Cory said. "I can make you forget."

"If we need you to keep our friend going once you bring her back, then why would you propose such an offer if you're unwilling and unable to travel with all of us?"

"No, you are mistaken," Cory said. "Once I bring your friend back to life, I expect you to leave her with me. I will take her in, and keep her alive. She will be allowed to join my guild, and we will protect her."

"We certainly cannot trust our friend to you!" Asuna said. "That's ridiculous. You can't have expected me to agree to that."

"You have only one chance of seeing your friend alive again," Cory said. "And you're looking at him. There is one alternative I would grant."

"What's that?"

"Since you cannot trust me with your friend alone, I would allow you with us as well. I would promise not to mistreat either of you. But if this is what you wish, then you must come with me."

Asuna shook her head. "I will do no such thing." She stood there, and stared at him.

"Then leave," he said. "If you are willing to let your friend die instead of risking a life with me. Leave."

Asuna turned her head to look back the way she came. She grit her teeth and looked back at Cory. "What other ways can we resurrect her?"

"I will offer no alternative."

"Why are you doing this?" Asuna asked.

"You're very pretty…" Asuna shuddered as he said that to her again. "I have been honest with you thus far. I am called the Black Prophet. I speak only in truths… but those truths are never kind and always self-serving. I am not offering a free pass for your friend. I am bargaining the rest of your time in this virtual world for your friend's life."

"If things were slightly different," she said. "I would consider it. But you see, in the real world, I am pregnant. I have a boyfriend who I believe intends to marry me, and he's in this world with me. I cannot abandon him or my unborn child."

"I see," Cory said. He tapped his stick to the ground again. "I know how to force your hand then." Cory took out a sheet of paper, and wrote Asuna's name on it. Asuna blinked at him. "This is a death note." He held it up to her. "I write your name on it, cast a bit of magic on it, and then whoever touches it will seek to kill that person until they succeed, or until someone else touches it. If you won't accept my offer, I will cast my magic on it, and then you will die."

Asuna laughed at him. "You couldn't kill me. I bet your level isn't even that high. It's just hidden with your magic, like your name."

"True," he said. He spoke something she couldn't understand, and the next moment, her feet sank into the ground, and she dropped her sword. She was stuck. Cory approached her, and put the paper into her hand. "But you can. Accept my offer, or I will cast my spell!"

Asuna panicked, and dropped the paper to the ground. "No thanks!" He groaned, and went back to pick up the paper, and held it in her hand for her. She had a second weapon he didn't know about though, and she pulled it out. With her spear, she knocked him away. He got up and shook his head. He spoke a few more words, and then Asuna's spear was thrown away. She panicked and started to scream, but even that was stopped with another charm.

She looked at him in fear, but whatever spell he had on himself to mask his name and level was wearing off. He didn't seem to notice. She wrote Cory's in-game name on the back of that paper: GothGod.

He saw that she still had it in her hand and went over to her. He kicked her spear away, and knelt down to hold the paper in her hand. "Final offer…" he muttered. She glared at him, and he cast his spell. While he was casting however, she pulled out her shield, and hit him in the stomach. As he stumbled back, she slipped that paper into his own hand.

While he was still down, she freed herself, and started to run away, picking her weapons up on the way out. As she fled, she suddenly stopped, forgetting where she was. Cory was walking behind her when he heard another voice from a distance. He couldn't kill two, so he left. From that moment forward, he was destined to find and kill Asuna, and then kill himself. It was on that day he gave the paper to Kirito that his fate changed.

Asuna was the first he met in secret like this. But over time, he would meet all of his major enemies. Klein, Leafa, Lisbeth, all of them. To each one, he offered something extraordinary at some steep cost. Some of those he met joined him, becoming members of the Death Oath.

* * *

><p><em>New Year's Eve, 2028. Negative 3 Hours.<em>

Cory's mother watched television out in the living room. The rest of the house was in just as much of a mess as his room. He walked out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen. His mother stood up, and turned to him to stop him. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I was getting some Cheetos," he said.

"No," the woman said, moving towards him. "No food. It's too late for that."

"But mom, it's New Year's Eve."

"I don't care," she said. "You have been up late at night after you're finally done playing with that game of yours, screaming and making noises and waking everyone else up. Your sister is already asleep."

"I'll be quiet, I promise," he said as he kept on forward to grab the half eaten bag from the countertop.

"No," she said, moving closer. "That's not good enough. You spend all your time in there, not doing homework. Don't you know you have to do good in school if you want to be happy? You're failing three classes!"

"Is that what happened to you?" he asked, sarcastically.

She was furious, and grabbed the snack from his hand and threw it across the kitchen. Some of the treats spilled out on the floor. "Sorry," he said taking a step back from her. She raised her right hand and hit him, hard, on the face. He flinched and then shook his head. "I said I'm sorry."

"You think it's okay to talk to your mother like that?" She started to cry, but they were crocodile tears. "When your father died—"

"Please don't bring dad into this."

"No, when your father died you looked me in the eye and you said you would be a good boy," she said. "You said I wouldn't have to worry about how you were doing in school, or what kind of music you listened to—"

Cory raised his voice, shouting at her. "Dad died five years ago, mom! Five years! Get over it!" She screamed at him, and hit him again. He raised his hands to stop the hit from coming, and turned his head away. "And what have you been doing, huh? You started drinking again! You gave up on me!"

"You gave up on yourself, Cory!" Off in a bedroom down the hall, a girl started to cry. "You woke the baby up…"

"She's not a baby anymore, either, mom. She's eight years old!" His mother started to hit him again, and this time wouldn't stop. She backed into the kitchen, and he watched as she grabbed an empty bottle of Vodka, and raised to him. He had to fight back now. He caught her hand, and threw the bottle away, and she continued to hit him with her other hand.

When she went to grab another bottle, he pulled a knife off of the kitchen counter, and ended the fight right there. The blade shoved into her gut, and blood spilled all over the floor. He screamed at her and threw her to the ground, and then kept stabbing her. "Bitch! Whore! You're a terrible mother!" The slurs and the insults kept on coming, and it wasn't until her body was limp and lifeless that he stopped.

Cory stood up, and grabbed his bag of Cheetos, and walked back to his room around the body. The crying stopped, and his little sister ducked back into her bedroom when he went by her door. He went to his own room, and sat down on the mattress on the floor. He looked at his AmuSphere, and then ate one of the cheesy snacks with bloodied fingers. He put the device on his head, and laid back on his bed.

"Link… start!"

A series of checks were initiated as he looked into the visor and closed his eyes. The white screen came up and one by one, his senses were all checked out. Bright colors flashed all around his field of view, and then… the game began.


	32. Chapter 32: Lover's Quarrel

_Year 3, Month 5, Day 4_

As Asuna walked into an inn in Iceberg, she thought about her next move. Taking a seat at the dark table at the back of the room where Asuna and Rexem talked once before, she looked down. Her contact would be there soon. Assuming that Kirito and I had gotten together, she thought, and that I was saved from Sugou after the events of Alfheim Online, and that he and I were trapped in this death game together, what would be the worst case scenario?

She opened up her player menu, and accessed her in-game messages to re-read through a very long one sent by Kirito, detailing the events of his life from the time Sword Art Online ended to the shattering of Vearth. As she read, another player sat down next to her. He stayed covered, and slid in next to her. "Do you have what I need?" she asked.

He nodded, and opened up a trade menu to trade some items to Asuna. The items included a shield, sword and spear, all made of dragon bone. "Items like these don't come cheap," he said. Then he traded her a different item, some kind of potion. "An item like this though—"

Asuna traded back to him 1.5 million Col. "Is that enough?"

The man declined the trade request, and shook his head. "Nothing is enough for that, except secrets."

"What kind of secrets do you want?"

The man looked at her gray player cursor. "You're not like other players," he said. "Your cursor draws attention, and your name is the only one like it. It reads Asuna, but next to your name, in grayed out text, it reads the number two."

"I'll tell you then," she said. "I am not the Asuna everyone knows from this world. After the shattering, the real Asuna, Kirito, and a few others encountered a player named GothGod, also known as the Black Prophet. He used a unique item called the Sands of Time to create copies of the players that fought him. These copies were not just identical twins. We are from alternate timelines… alternate timelines where we became killers and murderers instead of the heroes we are today. I am one of those copies."

The man nodded. "So there's a clone of Kirito running around somewhere, and he's evil. What about you… you don't seem murderous."

Asuna shook her head. "You have no idea," she said. "Each of the clones have our motivation and our reasons. Mine was a little less out of my control, but I've found a way to use it for good."

"How is that?"

"In my timeline, my mind was taken over by the Laughing Coffin, and they turned me into a weapon, and aimed me at Kirito, whom I love."

The man thought for a moment. "So instead of killing our Kirito…"

She simply nodded, and got up from the table. "And when he's dead, I'll run to the farthest reaches of the virtual world, and leave the real Kirito alive."

"How will you find him?"

"The alternate reality copies are supposed to be worst-case scenario. I've weighed all of the facts, and I've determined that the worst thing that could happen to Kirito would be for me to die, and for him to kill me. It would drive him insane." She started to leave, but turned back to nod in appreciation for the gifts she received, but didn't answer his question because she wasn't sure how to find him yet, herself.

Yes, she thought as she left. The evil Kirito succeeded where the Kirito in this world failed. He killed me when he was charmed by the Death Oath, and instead of Asuna saving him, he went out to save her. I cannot imagine what drove him further into insanity after that however. Did he blame his friends for not being able to stop him? Turn on them even? His level was the highest anyone's seen, at one hundred and ninety-one. Without his friends, he would have gone to the ends of Vearth to find a way to resurrect me.

But… he wanted to kill Asuna when he arrived here. He would not do that after succeeding in his mission unless… unless Asuna attacked him first. Why would I turn on Kirito after he saved my life? The only thing I can imagine is if… I didn't want to be saved, or if Kirito had to commit some great atrocity to accomplish his goal. This means he wants one of two things: either to win Asuna back or perhaps force her back through means of mind control, or he wants to hunt Asuna down and kill her to take revenge on her for turning on him. I can only be certain of one thing.

He will be looking for me. I have to make sure he finds me, and not the other Asuna. So that's my plan. Let people see me. Let him know I'm here. Kirito… Insane Kirito… I'm waiting for you now.

* * *

><p>While the ash cloud began to dissipate farther west, the east of the world was still blanketed with a black sky. Players had to use the in-game clock to tell time, as no sunlight shined through the thick clouds. Michiko, Xaela and Doc, the former Red Hand guild member, looked over from a newly formed cliff onto the kingdom of Newberg. Ash fell from the sky and had covered everything like a black snow.<p>

Michiko was able to use the guild leader's player tracker to locate guild members within the kingdom. She had sent out messages to all members, telling them to return to headquarters and fortify themselves. There was a warning that members of their guild may have fallen under the effects of the mass mind control, and that they should be wary of that. Finally, she told the Black Wardens to cease all communications with other players until she returned to headquarters. On her map, she had located eight Black Wardens who were likely afflicted by the mind control.

"They're coming," she said, her voice muffled by her enchanted gear. "Are we ready?"

Xaela nodded. She had the same gear as before, and hadn't gotten a chance to refit herself with Black Warden gear. As such, her armor and equipment was all still color-coded to the Veteran Protectors: blue and white. She put on her helmet, and rode down from the cliff on her pegasus. The wind from its wings stirred up ashes, creating a cloud of dust around them.

She flew down to the bottom of the cliff, into a section of the Ring Forest, and waited there for the eight targets to approach. The eight Black Wardens all rode horses, and stopped when they came to her. They each wore cloaks and their identities were hidden. "You there," one of them said. They could see that she was in their guild. "What are you doing? We're supposed to return to base."

Xaela shook her head at them. "New orders," she said. "The headquarters have been overrun, they are not safe. The Black Warden has ordered a few that she can trust most to meet back with her near here. I'll take you there."

The eight all looked at one another, and decided to follow Xaela. The woman turned her horse around and led them along a winding path that went up the mountain. When they reached the overhang where the three stood earlier, they stopped. Michiko stood there, with her back turned to the group.

"Mokatso," one of the eight said. The warden dismounted, and stepped forward. They had no way of knowing if Michiko was afflicted by the mind control or not. "What is your order?"

Michiko turned to face them, and took a step back. On the ground, in the ashes, there was a symbol drawn. She held out her hand and a drop of blood spilled onto the symbol. The group of eight all turned to try and run, but were suddenly falling from their horses and onto the ground. They shut their eyes, and began to sleep.

Doc walked up from the path where they'd all been led down. He looked around, and even Michko and Xaela had been put to sleep by the spell. The voodoo expert began to use his tools to dispel the mind control from the eight wardens, one by one. Afterwards, he went over to the drawn symbol, and kicked at the ashes, destroying it. The ten players awoke, the eight who had been affected by the mind control seemed dazed.

"Wake up," Michiko said. "You have all been affected by a powerful mind control spell, courtesy of our enemy, the Black Prophet, GothGod. But my friend has released you from that said spell, the same he freed me a couple weeks back."

"Ma'am," one of them said. "I don't have any memory of that. I last remember leading a search party into Newberg to find you."

"Why is that?" Michiko asked. "I told everyone to stay put and be on the lookout for a surprise attack in the west."

"And we did," the same muffled voice spoke. "We waited but then the ground shook, and in the distance there was a massive explosion. It sent the world heaving, and it tore open hidden dungeons and zones, from which powerful monsters emerged that we couldn't fight. One such doorway opened right in the middle of our headquarters… we think Death Oath must have known about it a lot longer. They let us take their base for that very reason."

"Then where is everyone else?" Michiko asked. "They aren't showing up on my tracking systems."

"Exactly," the same one spoke. "They fell. All of them. And we saw what looked like the bottom of Aincrad fall to the north. We think that our outpost there was beneath it." Michiko's eyes widened, and she opened her player map, and set it to track her guild-mates. She looked north, where the Darkwood was, and found no signatures. "If there are any Wardens out there, they're few and far between."

"Oh no," Michiko said. She started sending out another mass message, a warning to stay away from headquarters. "I hope they heed this warning more than the last…"

"Mokatso," one of them said. This player looked out over the edge of the cliff, at Newberg. "We were in Newberg when we lost our memories. That's the last thing I remember, riding up on Newberg. Does that mean—"

"Yes," she said. "The whole kingdom has been turned into a legion of mindless players, all under the command of the Black Prophet."

"Have we failed, then?"

"Yes." Michiko sat with her feet off the edge of the cliff, and looked out across the land. "We fought long and hard against the player killers, but in the end, they tore the world asunder. They targeted all of the weakest players and turned them into slaves. The vast majority of players lived in or around the city. Those free… are now in the minority."

"You saved us," another said. "Can we not save the rest?"

"It's possible," Doc said as he stood next to the group. "But dispelling the mind control takes some time, and it has to be done one by one. I don't know of a way to free everyone."

"I say it's worth a shot, Michiko," Xaela said. "We can't save them all, but for the time being, we can do what we can to save as many as we can. We have friends down there still… Agil, Eulsam..."

"Agil and Eulsam are in the city itself," Michiko said. She pointed to the satellite towns surrounding the city. "If we were to do this, we would have to stick to smaller places. Remember that we'll be up against other mind slaves. These are innocent players, who never wanted to be in this game and stayed away from the danger for as long as they could, in order to survive. If it were a player-killer's base, I would have no trouble with fighting and killing whoever got in our way. But in this case, we'd have to fight the very players we are trying to save."

"Was it ever easy for us?" another muffled voice said.

Xaela received a message from Ryun. She opened it up, and read it to herself. After reading, she removed her helmet, and pulled Michiko up. "Michiko," she said. "From Ryun. He got a Red Hand base to flip. They had a small revolution last night, and several player killers who refused to join the cause were executed this morning. We have a town we can use as a base camp, he says. They've re-organized, and they're calling themselves the Hand of Salvation."

"The Red Hand?" one of the wardens questioned. "What's happened?"

Michiko stepped back from the ledge. "In this desperate hour, we have chosen to show a degree of mercy to them. To those who would aid our cause. Doc was one of them. If not for his betrayal of that guild, we would not be standing here today. Ryun was the one who led us to Doc. I can only trust him about as far as I can throw him…"

"Then fortunate for us," Doc said. "You have a very strong throwing arm. I received the message as well. I know that town, and I can take us there. It will take a while on foot, through this new, rugged terrain. We can be there in three or four days."

"He said it was in the north-eastern part of the Dune Sea," Xaela said. "That's at least half a day by air. By foot… it'll take us at least a week, considering we have to go through mountains now."

"We won't be needin' any rest or food," Doc said as he pulled out some of his items. "You have yourself an ally who mastered voodoo." Doc plucked a hair from Xaela's head, and then Michiko's. Xaela made a sharp squeak. Michiko didn't flinch. After those two, the rest of the wardens followed suite and handed in a strand of their hair to Doc. He mixed a potion for each of them, and handed them out before downing one of his own. And with that, the group set off.

* * *

><p>The former slave town of Aushrad was relatively small, and just a few hours outside of the Ring Forest. The shattering had little effect on the northern part of the Dune Sea, though there were piles of rubble where the quakes destroyed buildings. The bodies of fallen players during the previous slave revolution in the town were lined up on the eastern edge. Like the rest of the zone, Aushrad was covered in a layer of ash, which fell in flakes from the blotted out sky.<p>

This particular town was a mining town, and supplied near-by Red Hand bases with metals, mostly iron, to supply their troops. The objective of the slave towns in the Dune Sea was very straight-forward: to capture slaves, and turn them into soldiers for the guild. All of the Red Hand outposts in the Dune Sea were militarized. When Michiko and the Black Wardens arrived, they came from the southwest, and walked on foot rather than riding on horseback. The potions had done their part, and their effects were coming to an end. Ryun met with them as they came in.

"Ryun," Doc said. Doc was the tallest of the group, but not by much, standing at exactly six feet tall. Ryun however was on the shorter side, standing five-foot-five. "I see things have been going well for you, here."

Ryun nodded as he greeted the rest of them. "I never thought I'd see the day," he said. "When I would run into nine of the Black Wardens and wouldn't have to run for my life."

"I see you have yet to leave your guild," a muffled voice spoke out, looking at the guild icon next to his in-game name. Additionally, his hand was still painted red.

"It's part of my tactics when I go in to start an uprising," he explained. "I come to them as an ally, and I tell just a few of them, those members who are the newest, of my plots. If they blab to officers, I can flaunt my rank in the Order, and the rats will be put down without any worry."

"Weren't you worried about your guild hunting you down?" Michiko asked.

"At first," Ryun said. "But I managed to weasel my way out of trouble after quite a lengthy discussion with the vice commander. I'm here under the guise that I am actually fighting against the Hand of Salvation. Even still, it's only a matter of time before they figure me out. I'll take advantage of my position in the guild as long as possible."

"What exactly was your position in the Red Hand?" Xaela asked. The group was walking back into the town's center. Players were making preparations to supply themselves in order to march onto the next town, and liberate it.

"I was in charge of the entire operations here in the Dune Sea. Technically, I still am. I have been ordering troops around in an effort to, as far as they are concerned, thwart the enemy's attack plans. However, what I am actually doing is pushing the Red Hand armies into the wrong places, while the Hand of Salvation attacks undefended supply towns." He started heading off towards the other end of town. "I need to head out now, before someone notices I'm spending way too much time in a liberated town." With that, he started to run off.

"Good luck, friend!" Doc shouted as he ran, and then turned back to the Wardens. "So what are we doing now that we're here?"

"While the Hand of Salvation and Ryun work on the eastern front, we'll be working on the west." Michiko looked towards the Ring Forest, and then started looking around the town. "We'll want to start with the closest town to here. I don't know what exactly our plan is for rescuing players from the Death Oath. We could perform basic captures, with nets and paralysis effects, but then we'd have to flee while hauling them back somewhere safe, which could get us killed."

"Couldn't we perform more of those sleeping spells?" Xaela asked.

Michiko shook her head. "The area of effect is too small to cover a whole town, and then whoever casted it would be vulnerable as well. Not to mention that it takes time to draw the necessary symbols on the ground."

"I know a charm," Doc said. "…that would cause players in a wide range to become distracted to the point of becoming unresponsive to anything going on around them until they're touched or attacked by something. It lasts only two minutes, but we could use it to confuse a whole town."

"And that would give us enough time to stun and capture some of the players," Michiko said. "We would spend a full minute and fifteen seconds capturing as many as we can, and ditch the town with plenty of time to put it far back enough in the distance that they wouldn't know to look for us."

"The Red Hand used slave carts," Doc said. "Like wagons attached to horses, we could repurpose those in capturing the mindless players in Newberg."

"We'll take three of them." Michiko started to walk off. "Pack supplies, we'll stay out on this mission for a few days before returning here." Everyone headed off to gather what they needed for their journey.

* * *

><p><em>Year 3, Month 5, Day 9<em>

The Black Wardens had a successful operation running from the inner edge of the Ring Forest into the town of Arburs. Nearly a hundred players had been rescued from Death Oath's mind control, but it was still nothing compared to the nearly sixty-five thousand players under the effects of the mind control in the Kingdom of Newberg. Any progress was better than no progress though. The wardens were gearing up for one final run into the town of Arburs.

The good part about a sky covered in ashes was that they didn't have to wait for the cover of night to go in, they could attack at any time. When they went in, they attacked from a different edge of the town every raid. This time, on their last run, they went straight from the eastern edge. Doc was the first in, and cast his charm over the city. The effect was that of a million dancing lights, like little fireflies, and anyone who looked at them was instantly captivated, unable to do anything except watch, unaware of what was going on right next to them.

The only thing that could pull these players from their daze was if they were touched or harmed in some way. But by the time the wardens did that, it was a simple paralysis effect, and it would be too late to fight back. After they captured nine players, they left the town, and carted the players up into the forest on those wagons.

On the way out, Xaela had to grab Doc's hand to pull him out of the trance, and get him to come along with him. That was the disadvantage of most of the voodoo magic. The charms are powerful and unsurpassed in tactical usefulness in and out of battle, but the charms were a double-edged sword, affecting the caster as well as his allies and his enemies. The wardens had to be careful not to gaze at the lights themselves during their raids.

When they were back in the camp they had set up, Doc started the dispels, and soon enough, nine more players were freed from the curse. One such player, Anne, looked around at her surroundings. She wore a green skirt and white shirt, and had red hair. "Wait," she said. "Where am I?"

"Welcome back," another player greeted her. "It's a long story… we were all under the effects of mind control—"

"No!" she shouted. She got up, and looked around. "You don't understand, I can't leave without my things!"

"Calm down," the other player said to her.

"I was on the verge of something important, who's in charge?"

"I am," Michiko said as she approached the player starting the commotion. "What's the problem?"

"In my shop in Arburs," she said. "I had some rare items I had been gathering for a long time. It has taken months to collect them and I had intended to use what I had learned to aid the heroes of Vearth." She looked at Michiko, and realized who she was speaking to. "Including you," she said. "You probably don't remember me. I fought in the Temple of Fire with you and your group. I don't think we ever talked though, until today."

"We're done raiding Arburs. We're heading back to our base of operations, but when we come back, you'll be able to get your stuff."

Anne shook her head. "I'm tellin' you," she said. "You're going to want this."

Michiko tilted her head, and sighed. "What is it?"

"Mithril."

"Mi…thril?" Michiko asked.

"Aye," she said. "I have mastered both tailoring and blacksmithing, but on the day I mastered the second, a new skill appeared in my player skills: Mystic Tailoring. The lowest tier of materials I could make with this new skill was Mithril. I've been working a long time to gather all I needed to produce it."

"So what is Mithril going to do for us, exactly?"

"It would be the highest quality material for armor in the game, if I could make something out of it. Mithril is supposed to be woven with threads, like cloth, and so it's extremely flexible, and lightweight. You could wear it under plate armor, or it could replace leather and cloth altogether. It is an alloy of Silver Steel, Dragon Bone, Dragon Scales, and Cobalt. All of those materials are alone hard to gather, much less to break down and forge into Mithril. But if you were to don a Mithril shirt beneath your vest, no weapon anyone yet possesses would be able to pierce it. It also possesses the highest fire and cold resistance to date, at eighty-five percent damage reduction."

Michiko thought about it for a moment. "And you have some in your shop, right now?"

"No," Anne said. "I have the tools necessary to forge it from the raw materials. I lack Silver Steel, and Cobalt. Cobalt can be collected from the Northern Mountains. Silver Steel I heard was found to the far west. If I am to create Mithril though, I will need to go back to Arburs, and break down the large equipment I had set up there, and take it elsewhere to set up a new shop."

"How far are you away from arming us with Mithril armor?"

"Even once I have the materials I need, it would take some time to forge the alloy. That is why it is imperative that I have what I need as soon as possible, so that production of Mithril armor is not further delayed."

Michiko nodded. "Alright," she said. "Come with us tomorrow, and we will set out for your shop. You will only have sixty seconds to get what you need and get out, though. Understood?"

Anne nodded, and bowed before the Black Warden. "Thank you…"

* * *

><p><em>Year 3, Month 5, Day 10<em>

Kirito approached Asuna in a field of ash somewhere southwest of Iceberg, in a valley between two mountains. The ash here mixed with snow, and the ground was blanked with a mixture of black and white flakes. The warm ash melted the snow away, and beneath it all, they was a layer of slick ice.

He stopped for a moment, and smiled at her. Then, he reached behind his back, and drew twin blades: Wrath and Ruin. Asuna heard the blades drawn, and turned around to face him. There was a strange blue glow in her eyes. She draw her shield and spear, and held her spear up in front of her, and held the tip of the spear against the edge of the shield.

"When I figured out what happened, Asuna," Kirito said. "I was happy that I would get another chance with you. But then again, you're not the real you… not the you I know. I heard your story, and it's a shame that we must fight each other."

Asuna narrowed her gaze, looking sharp at him. He attacks first, she thought. I can defend myself with this gear. He will strike hard on my shield side, and then spun around backwards with both weapons to come at my spear side. Then he'll activate his Fury. If I outlast it, I can destroy him with my Valkyrie state…

"Nothing to say?" Kirito asked as he walked towards her. "I suppose there's no point. Why waste my breath, right?" At that, he charged.

As predicted, he went in on her shield side. But she was wrong about his target. With both weapons, he swung above and below her shield. It was a stupid move though, she thought, why would he do that? She pushed her shield out into him, aiming for his gut.

When he saw her shield jutting out, he smiled. He stopped the swing, and turned his weapons inward around the shield, catching it as she hit him. Using his superior strength, he pulled at the shield, taking the minimal damage she delivered, and flipping her over his head and forcing her to let go of the shield. Once that was finished, he threw the shield far away, like a Frisbee.

Now what? She needed a new strategy, and fast. She activated her Valkyrie state. Her eyes glowed white on top of blue, and a halo and wings appeared around her. Thunder and lightning crackled around her spear as she charged at him with it.

Kirito used his left weapon to deflect the attack from her spear into the air, and thrust the second weapon towards him. Now! He activated his Blade Dancer's Fury, and performed a quick whip around, pushing inside of her reach and slashing and hacking away at her. She was thrown back by the blows, and dropped her spear.

She drew her sword, and it too crackled with lightning. She swung wide as he approached, hitting him with lightning bolts and surfacing lots of damage, which he ignored. When he got to her, she turned on her Lightning Speed. As before, when he fought the real Asuna, the two of them became a blur of weapon swings and strikes. Asuna was vanishing and reappearing in flashes of lightning, and Kirito was matching the speed of her strikes as his endurance dwindled fast.

He, however, had two blades, and she had no shield. Throughout the flurry, he started landing strikes on her, and soon predicted her next move. He swung his sword into her as she appeared near him, and cut her badly on her side. She was thrown back again. As she started to pick herself up, he unfurled a huge pair of wings, and flew up into the air, and slammed down into her, thrusting Wrath and Ruin into her back and into the ice below. Her health drained out, and finally, she gave in, falling into the blood soaked ground below her.

"Kirito," she said. "Before I die… Tell me your story…"

Kirito sat down in front of her, an evil smile on his face as he watched her bleed. For extra assurance, he took her weapon from her, and tossed it away. "How'd you know I would want to talk?" he asked her. Her health was approaching zero. "I'll wait until you die. You'll still hear me, won't you? That's what you told me."

Asuna cringed, and tried to get up, sliding her body up the jagged teeth of the blades. It hurt, a lot. She grit her teeth, and watched her health slide below the fifteen percent mark. "You're sick…" she said. "Making me suffer…"

Kirito stood up, and yawned. She could barely look up at him from her position. "Was it difficult, Asuna… when you realized that your world never existed? To know that you could never wake up in the real world again? Well, you couldn't… even if you woke up, you'd still be trying to kill me, right? Not me. I get a chance. I'm going to kill Kirito in this world, and if the Asuna of this world doesn't like it, I'll kill her too."

"You're not match for them…" Asuna muttered. Her health was below ten percent now.

"I was no match for you," Kirito said. "That's what you thought. You are close enough to death now. I will explain the events of my timeline. I successfully killed Asuna when I was charmed by the Death Oath. Eulsam, Klein… they didn't have the courage to stop me. Eulsam swore that we would bring you back, so I went with them. We cleared Tartarus, but at some great cost. Hades killed many in our group, and only a handful made it out alive after facing the rest of the dungeon. I finally brought you back, but you had changed. You didn't like how many had to die for you, and you felt guilty. That guilt turned into depression… that depression ended in suicide. But I saved you again… and again… and again. Each time, more people had to die. Eventually, none of our friends were left. Each time I told you about the lives that had been laid down in your name, you became bitterer. I accomplished many great feats, I became the Dragon Swordsman… I out-leveled everyone. And each time I tried to raise you from the dead, you would walk right back to the grave. Finally, instead of dying, you decided to fight. You turned on me… after everything I had done for you! You were ungrateful… always. I taught you a lesson, and I used every charm I had learned to keep you in line from there on out. Together we killed the Black Prophet, we stopped the Shattering, and I thought… maybe… just maybe now I could show you that the lives we saved balanced out the lives we destroyed. I freed you, and you still would not accept me."

"How could I?" Asuna asked, her health in the last twenty hit points. "You became the monster I learned to hate… you… were Sugou."

Kirito grabbed his swords, and pulled them from her, finishing her off. "I didn't ask for your opinion," he said.


	33. Chapter 33: Retribution

_November 7__th__, 2024_

A young Michiko, just eleven years old, sat in a hospital room next to an unconscious patient who wore Nerve Gear. She looked at her, and smiled at her, and took the woman's hand into her own to hold it. Suddenly, without warning, the woman woke up. Michiko saw this, and looked up at her older sister's eyes as they slowly opened. "Lily?" she asked. She gasped and rand from the room. "Momma!" she started to shout down the halls. Within seconds, the whole hospital went into high alert, with doctors running around checking on patients.

* * *

><p>The city of Newberg had been fixed up since the shattering. Even under its new management, buildings were being set up properly. Some were simply tore down and rebuilt, while others were built around and into. Players did this, but once they were finished, they stood around, doing nothing. The Black Wardens were moving towards the city. The plan was a dangerous one, but it was an important one.<p>

They were spotted as they got closer, and a guard in the Veteran Protectors entered the throne room of what had become a large castle in the center of town. "My lord," he said. "Michiko, and the Black Wardens are headed for the town."

The Black Prophet stood up from his throne, and tapped his staff to the floor. "Took them long enough," he said.

"Shall I have them killed?" Eulsam asked. The colors of the Protectors had changed from blue and white to black and green. The symbol of a skull with a scroll coming from its mouth was adorned on their shields, armor, and capes.

"No," GothGod said. "Let them come. Send in the masses to fight them, and force them to kill the ones they're trying to protect. Let their consciences weigh them down."

"Yes, sir," Eulsam said before nodding to some guards that were in the room. "Spread the word. Send in the lowest level players… and the youngest you can find. Arm them with steel weapons but give them no armor."

"It's time for us to move on," GothGod said. The rest of the Death Oath followed him as he left the room. "Eulsam, be a good lad and watch the city for me. We're going to start conquering the rest of Vearth."

Michiko and the others stopped before entering the city. The guards that were normally posted at the city's edge were all missing. Something was off, but they couldn't tell what. "I got a bad feeling about this one," Doc said. "We should be extra careful going into Newberg."

"I agree," Michiko said. "Stay alert. Remember: everyone here is a hostile. But we can't kill them because they're also innocent. Doc, save your spell for now. We may need it more later."

Doc nodded, and the group followed Michiko into the city. Every step they took, small clouds of ash would plume up around their feet. No one seemed to be around as they walked forward, but the green bordered flags of the Death Oath were on every corner. "This place feels closer to hell than Tartarus," Xaela said.

"Where is everyone?" a muffled voice asked. As the group rounded a corner, they saw before them a sea of players, and they were all facing them.

"Back…" Michiko said as she started to step backwards. She drew her weapon, and turned around to see that many players had snuck up behind them. Everyone else in the group drew their weapons. "Doc…"

"Shield your eyes!" he shouted as he pulled out a trinket, and held it up with his hand. He mumbled a few incoherent words, and the area around them was filled with millions of tiny dancing lights, most of them floating just above players' heads.

The mind controlled players were distracted by them, but the wardens had looked down, and crouched low, covering their eyes. One of them reached up and took Doc's hand, leading him along as they started to move through the crowd.

As the two minute mark approached, they started to run, and they barely made it past the huge crowd of players before the lights vanished. The mass of players turned and started chasing after the group.

"We'll never outrun them all!" Xaela said. "Michiko, we're going to have to fight!"

As the group rounded another turn, they found themselves charging into another mob. "Slay as few of them as you can," she said as she charged in, using the front of her weapon to push players back, and knock them to the side rather than attacking them outright.

The rest of the group followed suite, though most of them lacked shield-like weapons, and were forced to kill to clear a path. The players were easy enough to fight, physically, but they were trying their hardest to do the masses no harm. They hacked and slashed their way to the central courtyard, where the castle stood. When they arrived, the front gates of the structure were guarded by the Veteran Protectors, and Eulsam standing front and center.

"Doc, you ready for this?" Xaela asked as they got closer and closer. The guards drew weapons, and started a forward march. Eulsam marched with them.

"I was born ready…" he said as they continued to run. He pulled out a series of dolls, eleven of them in all. Two of the wardens rushed in on Eulsam, and held his dual swords at bay. The rest of them fought back against the guards, keeping them away from their leader. Michiko gave Eulsam an extra blade to fight against, and Xaela put her weapons away. She ran up to her former commander, and in the flurry, plucked a hair from his head, and passed it on to Doc. "I've always wanted to do this…" Doc threaded the hair quickly into the eleventh doll, and then he spoke a powerful spell over the toys.

Thirty seconds later, the wardens and Eulsam were all covered in a blackness, like a smoke or haze that no player could see through. They all stopped fighting, and though the guards swung weapons and attacked, they surfaced no damage, their weapons appearing to pass harmlessly through the Black Wardens. Doc went right up to Eulsam, with another doll and a dream catcher in hand, and cast his dispel on him.

"Get us out of here!" Michiko shouted. Another one of the Black Wardens pulled out a sheet of paper, and threw it into the air. It imploded, turning into a portal of some sort, and the party escaped through it. Doc carried Eulsam and as soon as he was gone, the portal closed.

* * *

><p>When they returned, the black haze had lifted from the players. They were in Aushrad, and Eulsam was taken into a building and laid down on the wooden floor. Michiko and Xaela stood by him, and waited for him to wake up. The rest of the group was out in the town, helping out the Hand of Salvation.<p>

Eulsam came to, and shook his head a little as he woke up. "Ow," he muttered. "My head hurts." He saw Xaela and Michiko, but couldn't figure where he was. "Asuna?" he asked. "Where is Asuna? What's happened?"

Michiko helped Eulsam to his feet, and he sat down in a chair. "Let's take things slow," she said. "About three months ago, GothGod cast a spell on the Kingdom of Newberg, turning everyone inside of it into mind slaves. That included you, and me…"

Eulsam shook his head. "Holy shit," he said. "Well, I'm glad we've all been rescued."

Michiko shook her head. "Unfortunately, it's only a handful of us that have. There's still some sixty-five thousand players under the effects of the spell."

He took a moment to let that sink in. "So I take it we need to find the Black Prophet next?"

"Like I said, one thing at a time. So… Kirito, Asuna and a few others ran into the Black Prophet a little before that. They were unable to stop him, and he used the Sands of Time to create copies of them from alternate timelines… basically, evil versions of themselves are now running free around Vearth. The alternate—"

"Hold on," Eulsam said. "Just wait a minute. I thought MerWizOne… or… the Yellow Wizard, whatever he called himself, I thought he was going to keep the Sands of Time safe."

"Right," Michiko said. "It appears that GothGod has given himself administrator privileges. He gave himself that item."

"How did he know how to do that?"

"Okay, let me back up a little farther. I forgot what you didn't know. GothGod killed Mother Earth in order to take the Fruit of Knowledge for himself. This is what caused the shattering."

"I remember that one," Eulsam said. "She offered that item to me instead of the Fruit of Life, but the Fruit of Life was what we needed to save Kirito."

"Right, so, GothGod now has all of the knowledge of the game world. Now, back to where I was… Kirito and the others escaped, and ran into the Red Hand on their way to Newberg. A couple of them, for reasons that still escape me, turned on the Red Hand and joined Kirito and the others. They went to Newberg to kill GothGod, but found themselves fighting you and the VPG, and had to flee again. Ryun, the Red Hand member, said he knew someone in the Red Hand who could reverse mind control. So they went to Paradise Isle to get him."

"I didn't kill anyone, did I?"

"Not that I know of," Michiko said. "Anyways. Xaela and I ran into them on the way there. I was under the effects of the mind control too, and so they captured me and took me with them. On Paradise Island, we got split up, but we got the guy who reversed the mind control effects. His name's Doc. After that, we all coordinated a new plan, and right now we're in four different groups all over Vearth getting ready to make a move against the Death Oath."

"Where is Asuna?" Eulsam asked.

"With Kirito, Klein, Sinon and Leafa. They went west to harvest more Silver Steel, which reminds me! We found someone who can make us killer armor—Mithril. Silver Steel is a key ingredient. Her name is Anne and she's in Iceberg right now, preparing a new forge."

"I'll join Asuna and the others," Eulsam said as he got up.

"Actually," Michiko said. "We really need you here."

"Why?"

"Since you were under mind control, you led the VPG to work against us," Xaela said. "They need their commander back and running things, and you should go to the Arena town to retake command. Right now, they don't know what's going on."

"You can go…" Eulsam said. "I'll put you in command of the VPG—"

"I left," Xaela said. "Many did. It was too dangerous with you under Death Oath's control. You could have tracked my movements. I am a Black Warden now. And it's staying that way."

Eulsam looked at her and shook his head once. "Alright," he said. "I'll find a second in-command. I need to find Asuna."

Just then, Doc entered the room. "Nice to see him awake," he said. "I have news. Ryun is dead. They found him out, and killed him on the spot. Blank is now heading off the operation here." Eulsam started to walk out of the room. "I have more news you might want to hear, commander."

"What is it?" Eulsam asked, stopping to hear him.

"Death Oath has been spotted. They left the Kingdom of Newberg, and they were headed towards the Northern Mountains."

"Eulsam," Michiko said. "We need you." Eulsam looked at her, and nodded slowly. He went back and took a seat. "Thank you," she said. "We'll go after Death Oath with an army, while they're unprotected. Doc, go find Blank and inform her of our plan. Xaela, gather the wardens. We should leave as soon as possible."

* * *

><p>Death Oath was marching towards the mountains when Michiko's raid party caught up to them. There were twelve in all, but GothGod was not with him. The area, like all others, was coated in ashes, with a dark sky. They wore plague masks and black cloaks, and had no weapons drawn. When they saw the group ahead of them, they stopped.<p>

"It ends here!" Michiko shouted out to them. "You are outnumbered! Surrender yourselves now, and we will spare you if you free the souls you possessed in Newberg, and let your leader atone for his sins!" Michiko's group was about forty strong, and they all had their weapons drawn. When Death Oath didn't respond, they started to move forward slowly.

"If you stand against the Death Oath," a whisper said. Even though they were several paces from one another, the raid party could hear the whispers. "Then you will surely perish. None can fight against one as powerful as our Prophet. Leave us be, or suffer our wrath!"

Michiko moved into a charge, running at the smaller party. The rest of the raid followed suite, and ran at them. Eulsam and Xaela were the second in the charge, behind Michiko. As the players charged forward, Death Oath drew their weapons. They all wielded weapons similar to GothGod's sword. While they had a variety of weapons—swords, maces, axes, hammers—they were all a mix of dark greens and blacks in color. The one at the head of their group wielded a large scythe. Michiko engaged him first.

The scythe came swinging down, and Michiko dodged right, pivoting on her fight and turning to bash the enemy with the front of her weapon. The Death Oath was knocked back a little, but only enough to get to an ideal range for his long weapon, which he swung from side to side against Michiko. The shape of the blade was more difficult for her to counter than a sword. The blade hooked around her weapon, keeping her from parrying it away with any effectiveness, and she was forced to pull herself out of the weapon's grappling hold on her with every block.

Eulsam took on a target who wielded a two-handed mace. He went in strong, slashing away at the enemy with his twin swords. Once inside the effective range of the heavy club, Eulsam was able to dish out some serious damage. He slide his swords into the enemy's chest, and extended a set of claws to deal several more blows. The man was killed, and as he fell, Eulsam put the claws away, and drew his swords back out of his fallen foe.

Xaela charged in with a spear, and impaled her first target with ease. The next who ran up on her got a quick gut slashing from her short sword. Though she wasn't dealing massive amounts of damage, she was able to handle a lot of enemies at once.

And then the rest of the raid joined in the fighting. So heavily outnumbered, the group of Death Oath was overwhelmed, and soon, they were all fallen, save for the scythe-wielding player who Michiko was still fighting. He stopped, and held his weapon steady. "You think you have won, here," the whisper said. "This is a defeat in disguise…" Before he could say anymore, Eulsam chopped him into three pieces with his blades.

"The Black Prophet isn't here," Eulsam said.

Michiko looked around and nodded. "We'll find him…" She put her weapon away, and mounted a regular horse before heading back to Aushrad.

"Was it a distraction?" Blank asked.

"Of course it was," Xaela said. She mounted her pegasus, and flew back.

* * *

><p>Xaela panted as she laid in bed. Her cheeks were red with blush, her blond hair was disheveled, and she was sweating a little. Michiko laid down next to her, and planted their lips, hers wet, together in a drawn out, passionate kiss. Once it broke, Michiko pressed her face into Xaela's shoulder and rubbed her nose against the exposed flesh. "Your turn," Michiko said, her voice soft as if both intimate, and tired. Xaela looked down and her.<p>

Before Xaela could move, Michiko got a message from Pegasus, and opened it up. It was from a friend of hers on the outside, and the title read "Happy Birthday." She opened it up, and Xaela read it over her shoulder. "Can it wait?" she asked.

As Michiko read the contents of this letter, the answer started to look like a no. "You and your sister shared the same birthday, right? So I thought this might be a good present for the both of you… This information was given to me from the IVRTF. It's a picture captured from one of the mind-controlled players in Newberg, time-stamped just a few hours ago, just northwest of Arburs. The picture was taken of some strange activity involving members of Laughing Coffin, and in the picture just at the edge of the frame, there is a clear picture of what appears to be the Laughing Coffin insignia on a player's right hand… done in red… Michiko… I remember four years ago today when Lily came to town for your birthday. She was a good person, and you loved each other very much. I'm not going to say that you shouldn't do whatever it is you have to do, but please remember that before any of this started, you were a sweet, innocent little girl. I don't want to think that that girl I knew turned into a monster…"

Michiko got up, and opened her player menu, putting her clothes and armor back on, and headed out the door. "Xaela." She paused for a moment, and then just said, "Suit up."

* * *

><p>"Eulsam!" Michiko shouted as she left the room. He was mounted on his horse and about to fly off when she stopped him. She ran to him. "Eulsam, I need your help."<p>

"What is it now?" he asked.

"They found him," she said. "My sister's killer, he's nearby. I need you to help me go and get him."

Eulsam sighed, and nodded. "Alright, I'll help you. Gather the wardens and we'll go hunt him down."

She shook her head. Xaela came out behind her and summoned her pegasus. "No time," she said. "We need to fly to Arburs, that's where he was last seen a few hours ago. He's with a small crowd of Laughing Coffin in that vicinity." Xaela got up on her horse, and then helped Michiko up behind her.

"Michiko," Eulsam said. "Where's your pegasus?"

"I gave it to Anne," she said. "The one who's making us Mithril. I can ride with Xaela, Anne needs that more than I do! Let's go!" With that, Xaela took off, and Eulsam followed the two of them.

* * *

><p>Within a few hours, the two of them were scanning the ashen terrain for players. They spotted what looked like a camp, and flew down and landed near enough to walk up to it. The three of them kept their weapons put away and made their way up to the top of a hill to look down towards the camp. They flew a Laughing Coffin banner, which whipped and lashed out in the wind.<p>

"That's got to be them," Eulsam said. "What's our plan?"

"There's more of them than there are of us," Michiko said. "And I'm only after one of them… hang on, let me use some magic." She summoned forth a companion animal, a raven, and muttered a spell on it. The next moment, Michiko fell to the ground as if unconscious, and the raven flew towards the camp.

Xaela blinked and looked at Eulsam. "Did you know she could do that?" she asked. Eulsam shook his head.

Through the bird's eyes, Michiko could see the Laughing Coffin members. There were over twenty of them, and as she got in close to look closer, she saw her target. The players in the camp swatted at the bird, and she flew off, cawing. Moments later, it landed back next to Michiko, and the woman woke up.

"I found him," she said. "He's at the far end, chatting up one of the girls."

"Michiko," Xaela said. "Got any more tricks like that?"

"Oh yeah…" she said. She got up, and pulled out what appeared to be a black skull with a symbol carved into the forehead. "Watch this…" She muttered a spell on the skull, the text flying around her as it does with all spoken magic. When it was finished, she gave the skull a throw into the camp.

Where the skull landed, the players all jumped, and looked at it in surprise. Then, without warning, the skull exploded in a flash of purple flames. The burning fire swirled around, forming a cone shape that towered over the camp. The players there drew their weapons and prepared to fight, as the flames gave way to a large, winged demon, wielding four golden scimitars.

Xaela and Eulsam looked on at the display with shock. "Michiko," Eulsam said. "Only black magic classes can summon demons… what is yours?"

"I am a witch," she said as she ran down the hill, ready to fight. Xaela blinked, and followed Eulsam as he charged in after the Black Warden.

"How come you've never pulled out any big spells like that before?" Eulsam asked.

"I prefer a little more subtle approach, normally," Michiko said in turn. When they got to the bottom of the hill, they joined the summoned demon in combat, engaging the Laughing Coffin. These players weren't exactly pushovers though. They had high levels, and were well organized. While a majority of them focused on the demon, two of them went to each of the attacking players.

Swords and other weapons were swung and thrust at them. Eulsam had to maneuver a little bit, but his dual swords were more than enough to handle two players, and before long, he had brought their health down and they fled. The same went for Xaela and Michiko. After only a short time, their enemies were running away from battle and into the woods.

It was just in time too, as the demon suddenly vanished from the field. "This way!" Michiko said as she spotted her target, and chased after him. Xaela and Eulsam kept up with her. The three of them caught up with the enemy as he stopped to take a breath. He looked back at the three of them, and shook his head. "The whole world comes to an end… Red Hand is far worse than we ever were. Death Oath is commanded by the most insane person anyone's ever met. Don't you have bigger fish to fry?"

Michiko stopped, and shook her head. "You're not fish," she said. "You're rats… and snakes. And I am a fox, hunting you down like the vermin you are even to the ends of Vearth!"

"Okay… second most insane person anyone has ever met," the man said. He turned and started running again. Michiko and the others chased after him, but were soon thwarted as a group of six of the Laughing Coffin ambushed them.

Eulsam blocked immediately, and so did Michiko. Xaela took a hit, and then started fighting back. Michiko parried one attack, and thrust hard into a strike, slicing one of the player-killer's heads clean off of his body.

"Go!" Eulsam shouted. "We can handle these guys, and we'll catch up!" Michiko nodded, and blocked another attack before charging off through the woods.

A player wielding a heavy hammer swung hard at Eulsam. He ducked from the attack, and came back up with a quick strike against the player's chest, goring him. The man fell. Another player lunged at Eulsam with a spear. He knocked the attack away, and then turned to defend himself from a sword strike coming from the opposite side. Xaela threw her spear at the swordsman attacking Eulsam, and then pulled out her pole-arm to perform a whirlwind to get the other attackers to back away.

Now with only three, the Laughing Coffin focused all of their attention on Eulsam, which was a big mistake. He put his swords away to pull out a shield and spear. One of the attackers had that spear shoved right through his heart, and the next two flailed miserably at Eulsam's large shield. Xaela came in with her pole-arm on one of them, cleaving through his shoulder and causing him to cry out in pain. The next attack was a quick thrust with her short sword, finishing him off. Eulsam let go of his spear to draw his sword, and chopped the head off of the last of their enemies.

Now, the two ran to chase down Michiko and help her. They ran through forests and the ash they treaded kicked up a smoke trail. More Laughing Coffin would have an easy time following them.

* * *

><p>Michiko followed her target all the way to a dead end, a huge cliff's edge that looked over a gaping hole in the earth, courtesy of the shattering. The man stopped again to catch his breath. He pulled out a pair of daggers, and prepared to fight.<p>

"You're not going to fight me," Michiko said. "Not with your energy so low." As with Michiko's last blood-thirsty chase, her will got a massive boost, letting her push herself beyond her normal energy limits.

"So I just let you kill me?" he asked.

"No," she said. "We talk."

"Talk? About what?"

"About my older sister, Lily." The man flinched at hearing that name, and Michiko knew then that this man knew something. "You know that name, don't you?"

The man shook his head, shrugging it off. "Don't be silly," he said. "I've killed lots of players. I'm sure there was a dozen Lily's."

Michiko narrowed her gaze to the man, and held out her weapon towards him. "You want more time to get your energy back, don't you? Keep talking… You know who she is. I know you do."

The man shook his head. His energy was halfway full, so he moved into an attack. He held his hands behind him with those daggers, and when he got close, he jumped clear over her while she slashed at him with her weapon. Her back was exposed, and this was his chance. He turned around and plunged one of those daggers into Michiko's back, right around her waist. She couldn't fathom how he saw that gap in her armor. She cried out, and fell to one knee.

"Lily," the man said. "Lily… Lily Lily… And your name… Mokatso. I can't make the connection." He shook his head. "Sorry. Looks like you die withouy your revenge." He went to slash at the back of her neck, and she whipped around, slashing him badly across his face. Blood splattered about and he reeled back in pain, dropping his dagger.

"Don't play dumb with me!" she shouted as she went in to charge once more. The man smirked, and fell to the ground. Michiko stumbled over him, and dropped her weapon to catch herself in the fall. After that, the man drew another series of weapons: throwing knives.

"You're the one being dumb," the man said back to her. He heard Xaela and Eulsam in the distance, calling her name—her real name. "Wait a minute… Michiko?" He smiled and laughed at that. "Michiko, Lily. Oh, yes. I remember you."

Michiko got up, and when she went for her weapon, he threw those knives at her, forcing her to dodge back away from the weapon. From there, he charged forward, and stood between her and that weapon. "Why did you kill her?" she asked.

"Let me tell you a story," he said. "But first… let's go somewhere a little more private, shall we?" She blinked at him, and he went over to her. He grabbed her by the arm, and as she went to punch him, he shoved one of the knives into her wrist and she screamed. He started to struggle with her, dragging her to the cliff's edge. "After all, we wouldn't want your friends interrupting, would we?"

Xaela and Eulsam arrived, and saw the man holding her near the cliff's edge. They raised their weapons to him. "Let go of her arm, and back away from the cliff," Eulsam said.

"No, wait!" Michiko shouted. "I want to hear what he has to say."

"Ahh," the man said. "Good. Once upon a time, there was a man and a woman. They loved each other very much, and so they decided to get married. They were both survivors of Sword Art Online who met outside of the game and made a connection in the real world. Little did she know that he was actually a member of the murder guild, Laughing Coffin, and he had bigger plans than a simple marriage and family in the boring realm of Earth."

Michiko blinked, and looked up at him. She remembered how Lily had told her that they were meeting someone at the lake the day she died. Was it him?

"But when they were whisked away to a new, magical world, and he told her all about his plans, she rejected him. She stomped her foot, and told him that they would never marry. How dare I? How dare she… Her death was on her own hands, little Michiko."

Michiko looked down at the ground, and shook her head. "You killed my sister… because she didn't want to marry you?"

"Yes," he said. "And you know what? I'll kill you too, now, if I'm not guaranteed an escape from this. You two will let me go, or I will kill her. I will throw her off of this cliff, do you hear me?" Now he was shouting.

"Do it," Michiko said. "Put down your weapons… let him go."

"After all this time," the man said. "It's come to you, giving up. For three and a half years you've looked for me, to have your revenge. You deserved it too, from the looks of it, becoming the legendary headhunter, the Black Warden. Such a pity…" Eulsam and Xaela nodded to Michiko, respecting her wishes and putting their weapons away.

Michiko, meanwhile, reached back and to her side, and wrapped her hand around that dagger that remained lodged in her flesh. "I don't…" she said.

"What?" he asked, looking down at her.

"I don't deserve to kill you. I went down that road once before and I know better now. What I deserved was to know why my sister had to die, and now… I know. This isn't vengeance."

"Whatever you say," the man said, letting her go and starting to walk away.

Michiko pulled the dagger from her side, and grit her teeth at the pain. "Because I don't deserve it… you do."

The man stopped and turned around to look at her. She jumped at him with that dagger, and shoved it right into his throat before he could dodge the attack. "I'm not here because I deserve to have my vengeance. I have come here… because you deserve to die." She twisted the dagger, so that the blade was perpendicular to his neck. "It's not revenge I seek. It's retribution." She sliced through his throat, and then grabbed his head by the hair. Eulsam and Xaela both flinched, and turned away as Michiko finished the deed, and took the man's head off, and dropped it on the ground next to him.

* * *

><p>"Alright," Eulsam said. They were back in Aushrad, and Eulsam was mounting up on his pegasus. "Now, before I go, does anyone else need anything from me?"<p>

Michiko shook her head. "No," she said. "You're free to go."

"What about the VPG?" Xaela asked, looking up at him.

"I think I've got things under control. A little information goes a long way. The forts around here should serve as valuable back-up for the Hand of Salvation."

"We appreciate the help," Blank said to him. "The Red Hand grows weaker with each passing day."

"Alright," Eulsam said. "I'm off!"

"Eulsam," Michiko said, stopping him once more. He looked at her, and waited to hear what she had to say. "About Asuna… you love her right? And you'll do whatever's right for her?"

"Yes," Eulsam said.

Michiko took from around her neck a necklace. It had a pendant that was half of a skull, and she gave it to Eulsam. He looked at it, and back at her as he took it. "You'll do the right thing."

Eulsam nodded to her. He put it away, not wanting to think too hard about what it meant, and flew off.

* * *

><p>In the Kingdom of Newberg, there was one spot that was left relatively unchanged by the shattering. A lake somewhere between the city and a satellite town. It was still dark. The surface of the water was covered with ash, and so was the ground. A lone tree stood up on one side of the lake.<p>

Michiko stood next to the tree, looking down at a gravestone which read Lily's name. She had with her a bouquet of flowers in one hand, and in the other, a diamond engagement ring. "Lily," she said softly. "I don't know if you can hear me. I don't know if the you I saw back in Nightmare Forest was real, and I don't know if I believe in any life after death… The world I've lived in… that I grew up in… it's a horrible place. I lost you here. Ever since then, I've focused on what that made me. I was… someone who wanted to take revenge, and someone who wanted to protect the innocent people trapped here with me. And then… I was someone who wanted to bring justice to an unjust world."

The woman smiled a little, and wiped a tear from her cheek. "It's been so long," she said. "I never thought I'd have to say good-bye to the people I loved like this, least of all you. You were a survivor. We were going to survive in here together, and wake up from it one day and pretend it was all just a bad dream. But I have to face the fact that one day, I'm going to wake up from the nightmare and you won't be there like I was there for you."

Michiko set the flowers down before the stone, and then looked at the ring. "I remember one time you told me that SAO didn't just take from you, that it also gave you something. You said that one day I might understand, but at the time it didn't make any sense to me. How could losing two years of being with my big sister possibly bring back anything good? I think though… now… I do understand. This world, Lily. It's taken everything from me. My innocence left when I saw you killed, and I became a killer. My first time… was rape. My first love was said to be a perversion. After three and a half years of this horrible place, I'm not sure which way is up anymore."

She took a deep breath, and set the ring down on top of the headstone. "It was you though, who got me through this. Whenever things got bad, I would remember how you survived. You taught me how to persevere in the darkest and most awful times. One day, I'll wake up, and I'll have to live in a world without you. I don't want to be alone anymore… I miss you. I'll always miss you."

Michiko turned and started to walk away from the grave. She blinked though, as she heard something from behind her. "Michi," the voice said. She turned around and saw, basked in light, her sister, Lily, standing in front of the rock.

The image of Lily before her though was not the Lily she remembered. Or… it was, but she wore something new. It was armor… armor of brilliant radiance. The woman had a shield strapped across her back, a spear sticking through that, and sword on her side. On her chest plate, a symbol stuck out to Michiko. It was like two pairs of wings, which were spread out to look like the shape of the letter V, and between them, a circle.

The woman took the ring from the top of the headstone, and tossed it to Lily. "Don't ever be alone…" After that, Lily unfurled a set of angelic wings, and flew up into the sky. The ash clouds above parted over the tree, and the whole lake. It basked in sunlight, and the ashes would not reform from where the hole had pierced through them into the sky above.

Michiko looked up at her, and then looked back at the ring. When she looked up again, her sister was gone. She looked back at the ring, and blinked as the name inside of it had changed. Where it once read Lily's name, it now read 'Xaela.' Mihiko smirked, and pocketed the ring before summoning a pegasus she borrowed from that same girl, and flew off into the distance.


	34. Chapter 34: Logout

_Year 3, Month 5, Day 10_

Kirito, Asuna, Klein, Sinon and Leafa had flown on their pegasi to Terrorfall Heights, or at least to the zone that used to be the Terrorfall Heights. The shattering of Vearth had crumbled most of the mesas, and the once inaccessible terrain was no reachable by foot. This included the Fountain of Silver Lights. When the group approached, they noticed that a small mining town had been built up around it, and the town flew the flags of the Order of the Red Hand. Seeing this, Kirito and the others landed a good distance away.

"That's not good," Leafa said. "The Red Hand is arming themselves with Silver Steel."

"Not for long," Kirito said. "We'll take it over, and liberate the slaves there."

"How?" Klein asked. Kirito held up his right hand, which was still colored red.

Asuna nodded, looking at her own red hand. "That's a good point," she said. "We're still technically members of their guild. They might not fight us if we can keep the charade up."

"What if the guild leaders got the message out about us already?" Leafa asked.

"They're probably not kicking us out of the guild so they can track our movements," Sinon said.

"That's a good point," Kirito said. "But still, it gives us some perks of our own."

"Like what?" Asuna asked.

Kirito looked back at her, and smirked. He had a plan...

* * *

><p>The group snuck into the town. They wrapped cloth around their heads leaving only their eyes uncovered, so that no one would be able to see who they were at a glance. Once they got into the town, they each took turns accessing their player menus, and changing their names. They didn't come up with very creative names, but instead, just spelled their in-game names backwards. Kirito was now Otirik, Asuna was Anusa, Sinon Nonis, Klein Nielk, and Leafa was Afael. They would change their names back as soon as they were allowed.<p>

From there, they got up, and all casually walked further into the town, going completely unnoticed. All around them, slaves were being driven to mine, smith and deliver weapons and resources around the town. The group followed along with some of them, a group of slaves moving a cart loaded with Silver Steel weapons from a blacksmith to what looked like a keep in the town's center.

"They're making enough weapons to supply an army," Asuna said. "Do you think they're going to attack Newberg?"

Kirito shook his head to her. "Little did they know," he said. "They were making weapons to attack their own base."

"You there!" a guard said, pointing to their group. "What are you doing out here? All new recruits are to report to the barracks for a briefing!" The guard came up to them, and grabbed hold of Asuna by her collar. "Unless you'd prefer to fall back into the slave ranks…"

"Yes sir!" she said. He let go of her, and she took a breath. After that, she turned back to her group, who was ready to draw weapons. "Umm, where is the barracks?"

The guard laughed at her. "Already forgotten your former post, I'm guessing?" He pointed towards a large wooden structure across from the keep. "That way…"

Behind her head wraps, Asuna was frowning, and glaring at the guard. The implications of that statement pissed her off, and she made note of his name before turning and heading towards the building he pointed out.

As they kept on walking, Kirito walked alongside Asuna. "I thought he made us out for a second, there." The group walked towards the keep, but Asuna stopped, looking at the barracks once they got closer. "What is it?" Kirito asked her.

"There's some kind of briefing," Asuna said. "We could use the intel."

Sinon nodded in response, and headed off towards the barracks. "I'll listen in. You keep on with your mission."

"Ottrik," a girl said as she approached the group. She had red hair, and looked to be about sixteen years of age. "These must be the new recruits you brought me from the breaker camp." Kirito didn't respond at first, but then snapped to attention. Who was Ottrik? A lucky mix-up, nonetheless. "Come with me, I have something I need you to take back with you."

Everyone looked at Kirito, and he started to walk with the strange woman. He turned back to the group and shrugged before turning back around and going with the girl. She led him up into a central building.

"Okay," Asuna said. "Let's get moving before anyone else stops us…" She walked towards the keep, and those remaining followed her in. Once inside, they followed a slave who had gone in with a cart of weapons. The slave didn't question it, and they followed him all the way to a weapons cache. It was locked and only guild members could withdraw anything from it.

Before the slave left, they stopped him. The slave was a man, looking to be about seventeen. "What is it now?" he asked Klein, who had stopped him.

Klein opened a trade window with him, and handed the slave several dozen Silver Steel swords. "Take these and hand them out to the slaves. Keep them secret." Klein unwrapped his masking cloth, and smiled at him. "And be ready to fight."

The slave nodded, and headed off with some sense of urgency. The rest of their group looted the cache of the rest of the weapons, and each left the keep. Klein put his head wrap back on as they headed outside.

* * *

><p>The girl with Kirito had stopped in a command room, and started to collect a few things. Once the door was shut, she stopped and stood up. She turned around the face Kirito, and smiled at him. "Kirito," she said.<p>

Kirito blinked, and immediately went to draw his dual Elucidators. "How'd you know?"

"Calm down," she said. "I'm on your side, here." Kirito lowered his guard. "I was informed that you were near-by, and I was hoping to see you when you arrived. I looked around town, but didn't find anyone. Then, as I walked past your group a second time, I noticed your names. Pretty clever, but don't expect such a simple deception to work in the future."

"What do you want?" Kirito asked her. He still held his swords, but wasn't in a fighting stance.

"The Red Hand is losing power. Ever since the shattering, we're running around, scattered and no one knows what's going on. But the truth is this: that the commander general of the Order of the Red Hand was caught in that mass mind control spell. The Red Hand is under the indirect control of the Death Oath."

Kirito nodded slowly. "So is the VPG. And the Black Wardens were almost victim to the same fate. I myself nearly walked into the effect as it happened." He put his swords away. "But you still haven't told me what you want."

"I want a way out," she said. "I've been with the Red Hand for nearly as long as the game has gone on. For the first two months, I was a slave. Then I joined Red-Handed not long before you and your friends dismantled it. I thought after that, I might be free. But they dragged me back in. I know many of us have similar sentiments, and we see that now, as so many of our numbers are under the direct control of the Black Prophet… it's a golden opportunity."

Kirito nodded slowly to her, and then shook his head. "I'm sorry, I still don't follow. An opportunity for what?"

"Revolution…" She put a cup on the battle plan table, and poured a drink into it. "Talia, our Vice Commander, was not the only one who messaged me about your approach. I received a message from a trusted friend, Ryun."

"Ryun… he helped us free the Black Warden from the mind control. Now he's somewhere in the east, trying to liberate Red Hand towns."

"Ryun and I have carefully sought out trusted individuals within the Red Hand who would one day spark the flames of a civil war." She took a drink, and then poured another for Kirito. "I won't downplay our role in the guild. We still tortured slaves and killed players. But it was the very system that allowed us to create soldiers for a revolution. We took care to bring slaves into our ranks that shared our interests in destroying this order. It wasn't difficult to convince them, and they were undetectable as revolutionaries once they were within our ranks."

"Why did you wait so long?" Kirito asked. He shook his head at the drink she offered. "How long have you waited while you've mercilessly killed innocent people?"

"A long time," she said. "The Red Hand is large, and can be very persuasive. They use fear, and threaten current members with a return to slavery or death if they consider just leaving the guild, much less working against it. It's like the Nazi party… What I want from you, Kirito, is to do me just one favor."

"What is that?" he asked.

"Wait… I have a plan in motion, where we can launch a massive, simultaneous slave uprising in every western Red Hand town, and take over the whole region overnight. When my plan succeeds, we will rally our forces and set sail on Paradise Island, and crush this regime once and for all!"

Kirito nearly choked and nodded. "I see," he said. "That would be nice, except, there's one tiny little problem with that…"

"What?"

Outside, the bells started to ring out in alarm. Soldiers and guards began to yell and shout. The girl sighed, and looked down at the battle plans. "Looks like we'll have to improvise," she said. She opened her player menu, and started sending out messages to her allies. "Go, Kirito! Go and fight! I will join you on the battlefield once I tell my friends that things are happening now."

Kirito nodded as he drew his weapons. He stopped before he left, and turned to look at her in-game name. He blinked as he suddenly recognized it. "Faefae," he said softly. He recalled the name from a long time ago, way back in day one. The little girl who was afraid to die was hardly recognizable.

"Yes," she said with a chuckle. "The same… now get moving, soldier!"

Kirito nodded, and turned to head out the door to start fighting.

* * *

><p>Asuna and the others had all met up, and were fighting against Red Hand. They were thrown off however, as they found many Red Hand fighting one another, not just slaves fighting their masters. Kirito caught up with them, and stopped for a moment. "We accidentally screwed something up," Kirito said.<p>

"Huh?" Klein asked, looking at him.

"There was already a plan in the works, but it wasn't ready yet. They needed more time. Faefae, that girl who pulled me away… she was planning a revolution. We started things up too soon."

"Too late to turn back now," Asuna said before joining back into the fight. Kirito nodded, and soon everyone was fighting their hardest. Things were bad for the Red Hand though, as they were outnumbered, and outmatched… and completely taken by surprise.

* * *

><p>The next day, in Iceberg, Anne was setting up her things in a newly purchased building. There, she received a message from someone she had yet to meet. She read it, and responded back before heading outside and into the snowy town.<p>

After walking to the town's center, she waved her hand at someone. Lisbeth looked around for a while. She had flown with her own wings, and her two companions, Sampson and Silica, had ridden in on dragons. It attracted quite a bit of attention. Finally, she spotted the person she was told to meet, and waved back to her. Sampson and Silica followed along as Lisbeth approached the redhead.

"You must be Lisbeth," Anne said. "Unless there's another dragon winged player around here somewhere."

"And you must be Anne," Lisbeth said back. "The one who discovered a secret new skill. I can't wait to see what you've got."

"Did you bring what I needed?" Anne asked, looking up at her. It was strange. The players in Iceberg, including the new arrivals, wore heavy coats, all bundled up. Lisbeth however wore her wedding dress underneath plate armor.

"Yes," Lisbeth said. "Though I'll have to say this now. The prospect of using my babies' body parts to forge into weapons and armor doesn't sit all too well with me."

"Lisbeth," Sampson said. "We talked about this. They're not real."

Lisbeth nodded. "I know," she said. "It just still feels sort of real to me. Anne, do what you have to do."

Anne nodded, and led the group back to her shop. She had set up two furnaces, though one of them was quite a bit larger, and was of a rather odd design. She also had what appeared to be large spools of silk thread, and a series of pipes and other contraptions.

"Tell me about it," Lisbeth said looking around at everything. "How does it work? I was told Mithril wouldn't be like other metals, and that you wouldn't be able to forge weapons from it?"

Anne shook her head. "No," she said. "The process is a long one. Silver Steel and Cobalt are first mixed together in boiling pots, but dragon scales and bones don't melt. They have to be crushed into a powder, and mixed in with the metals."

"You can't crush dragon bones," Lisbeth said.

"It's not like crushing nuts, that's for sure," Anne said. "They'll need to be put through a process of rapid heating and cooling, using magic. I have high level ice sorcery, and I hear you'll suit well for fire."

"I will…"

"Good," Anne said. "We'll have to blast the bones with intense heat, and supercool them quickly, over and over again until they shatter. When they do, they will form a fine dust."

"And the scales?"

Anne put a handful of small, spiky balls of metal on a table. "We'll need to make some of these with Silver Steel. We put them into a jar with dragon scales, and use a simple machine to spin it at high speeds. It's kind of like a blender."

"I see," Lisbeth said, holding up one of the tools. "I could make some of these for you. And so then we'll be able to forge Mithril. But why can't we make weapons out of it?"

"The structural integrity of Mithril is about the same as a sand castle," Anne said. "The mixed dust of dragon scales and bones is the base ingredient. The finished product won't hold together like metal, it will fall apart, like powder."

"Then how can you make anything out of it?" Lisbeth asked her, looking on in confusion.

Anne pulled a thread of silk from a spool, and smiled. "That's where tailoring comes in. Silk threads are strung through the powder, and they bond with the metallic dust. It's similar to item enchantments in the craft. That Mithril thread is then woven into cloth-like armor. It'll be heavy for cloth, but won't weight nearly as much as chain mail, and can be worn by any armor specialization."

"That's definitely different," Lisbeth said.

"Not even Silver Steel can pierce through Mithril," Anne said.

"Then how do you cut it into the right sizes and shapes, and stitch it all together?" Lisbeth asked.

Anne smiled. "That's where the mystic in Mystic Tailoring comes in. I have a series of spells that form the Mithril cloth into the finished products."

Lisbeth received a message, and opened it up, she typed back her coordinates, and waited. A moment later, a magical flash appeared before her, and a small box appeared. She opened it, and loads of Silver Steel were dumped into her inventory. "I got the Silver Steel," she said. "We can get to work."

* * *

><p>When Kirito and the group moved north from the Fountain of Silver Lights, what they saw was something quite unexpected. The whole of the Flying Mountains where they originally rounded up pegasi to ride was gone, and replaced by a huge city. Not just any city—Gun Gale Online.<p>

Sinon led the group, who was mostly unfamiliar with the new terrain, through the portion of the city ruins. They stopped at a gun shop that existed within the game, and there, Sinon pulled a sniper rifle from the shelf. When she held it up to try and use however, an error message appeared.

"You do not have the required proficiency to wield this weapon," Sinon read the message aloud. Though she could physically hold it, when she tried to squeeze the trigger, the weapon became stiff, and would not budge. She sighed. "Figures…"

"That's a real shame, too," Kirito said, picking up the handle of an energy sword. The same error message appeared. "If we could use these weapons… no one fighting us would stand a chance."

"The world is made as a fantasy setting though," Asuna said. "It wouldn't make any sense if the game suddenly allowed the use of firearms and energy weapons amidst the metal armor and magic."

Klein had picked up a machinegun, and was pretending to fire it away at his fellow players. He put it down as they looked at him. "Well, it would have been useful, but totally unfair. If this weren't life and death, I would be pretty shocked for the game to allow these weapons."

"I'm glad we can't even in this situation," Leafa said. "If we could, then that means other people could. Certainly, the Red Hand would have found this place first. Then we'd be screwed."

"Maybe so, but the least bit of luck would have been that we could still find more pegasi here like we planned," Kirito said. As they left the shop, he pointed northward. "But even beyond this bit of Gun Gale wreckage, it looks like the whole zone has been destroyed.

Sinon looked out into the distance, and nodded. "It's a shame. We could have really used those flying mounts to arm other players. And the Red Hand rebellion could have used them as well."

"So now what are we doing, Kirito?" Klein asked.

Kirito mounted up on his pegaus once more, and started to head northward, not flying yet and just trotting along, steady. "We keep moving. We'll go on as planned and meet up with Lisbeth and Anne in Iceberg."

Asuna was the next to mount up, and soon after, the rest followed, and they flew northward. Once they passed the small bit of the fallen Gun Gale area, they were flying over what appeared to be an endless, barren region covered in gravel and rocks.

Sinon saw something flying towards them up ahead. She opened her eyes wide as she made out the approaching figure. "Get down!" she shouted to her fellow players. They all looked back at her for a moment, but didn't question Sinon's sights, and all dove towards the ground afterwards.

After they landed, they dismounted, to spare their precious flying mounts and all drew their weapons to fight. Above them, a pair of huge dragon wings spread through the air, and then descended onto them.

"It's been a while since I've seen you, Kirito," the man said in Kirito's own voice. "I would have hunted you down sooner, but that fake Asuna was making a lot of noise, and broadcasting way too much information about the duplicates!" The dragon swordsman drew his blades of bone, and walked towards the group. "But now, I'm here for you, Kirito! And the rest of you… I'll make good friends with your doppelgangers by helping them kill you, too."

"Kirito," Asuna said. "Last time we fought him, he couldn't take us both head on when we activated our high-speed abilities. He couldn't counter us even with his own. If we work together, he'll be an easy victory." Kirito nodded, and walked towards the winged Kirito, ready to fight.

"And this time, you've got backup," Leafa said.

"I wouldn't count on such an easy battle," the fake said as he drew closer and closer to the real Kirito. "Last time, I had no idea what was happening. This time, I am ready. I know your story, and I know my level is far superior to yours."

"Your high level won't save you," Klein said as he gripped the handle of his blade, which remained in its sheath.

The dragon Kirito stopped, and smiled. "No," he said. "But this will…" His form glowed red, and something like a whirling wind of flames formed all around him. He jumped into a charge at Kirito, and led his attack with Ruin, the blade in his left hand, ready to defend himself.

Asuna activated her Valkyrie state, and charged in with spear and shield against the dragon. Kirito readied himself to block the attack. When the fake approached, he pushed Kirito's blade out of the way, and Kirito parried the second blade with his own. Asuna came in from behind with her spear, threatening to impale the false double, but only to have her attack dodged as the dragon vanished a plume of fire, and reappeared behind the real Kirito.

Klein waited with his attack, just in case, and now was the moment, he rushed in with his Quickdraw, and as he did, the false Kirito blocked his attack. Next came Sinon's arrows, five of them all at Kirito's head. "Blade Dancer's Fury!" the false Kirito shouted out. He went into warp speed, and used his off-hand weapon to cut through the four incoming arrows, and then jumped away from Klein.

Asuna put her spear away, and drew her sword. Then, she used her lightning attack, her sword crackling with electricity, and swinging bolts of lightning at the fake. The false Kirito jumped from spot to spot, dodging the series of bolts as he made his way towards his attacker. When he reached Asuna, she activated her Lightning Flash sword skills, and moved with sparkling tenacity from place to place. Every attack she made against the dragon was blocked or parried, but it took both of the fake's blades to keep up the defenses.

"Blade Dancer's Fury!" Kirito shouted right back to his double, and moved in to join Asuna and attack the false. But as he did, the other Kirito began to use his tail, and his wings. He twirled around and struck with every limb, deflecting every attack they threw at them. Sinon aimed her bow, but with the speed of the swords, she couldn't keep up and couldn't get a mark on her target.

Klein moved in, and acted as an extra blade, and as the cluster of players started to get licks on each other, Leafa kept her party healed up properly. Soon, though, Kirito, Asuna and Klein all moved back from the burning swordsman. Their super speed abilities were running out faster than the false Kirito's. In addition to what little hits he got on them, his flames damaged them. The fake Kirito was at ninety-five percent health, and as Leafa healed, the three melee players were brought back up above the ninety-five percent mark.

"Forget it, Kirito!" Asuna shouted at the dragon. "You're model of combat isn't sustainable! It may be a hard, long battle, but we're winning!"

Kirito looked at them, and then at their healer. As he stood still, Leafa started shooting at him, and he moved forward against Leafa as he dodged and deflected incoming arrows. The three players engaging him all moved in to fight against him more, and keep him from reaching Leafa. But with his fury still active, he was too quick for them, and managed to get a heavy slash out on Leafa, knocking her back, before his energy faltered and he was forced to deactivate his special ability.

Leafa stopped healing the party to focus on herself. "You think you're winning?" Kirito asked. He laughed and shook his head. "You're adorable, really… but you see… I have only showed you my low-level abilities." The group looked at him, and Kirito narrowed his gaze. "At level one-ninety-seven, I have plenty more in store! Like the Burning Dragon's Fury!" At that moment, his wings shrunk in, and turned into what appeared to be an extra set of blazing arms. They drew two weapons, identical to Kirito's Elucidators. The group gasped, and all prepared to defend themselves.

Kirito was the first to charge in, activating a Starburst Stream, but with four blades, blocking the incoming attacks was child's play. Asuna moved in afterwards, attacking from behind, but even with her added blade, the fake simply turned into a four-bladed whirlwind, knocking the two off them off, and then back, dealing a good deal of damage. When Klein charged in, he was no match, and Kirito struck at him with four blades. Klein was forced to flee back. The whole time, Sinon fired more arrows into the fray, not a single one landing on its mark.

Leafa started healing the group again, but only as the fake Kirito lunged at Asuna with his own, improved special attack, the Fireburst Stream, with which he used all four weapons in an epic combo, combined with scalding dragon's fire. Asuna held her shield up tight, and dropped her weapon. She was pushed back, and after only a few hits, her shield was destroyed, and she suffered massive damage. The seventh hit against her knocked her up into the air, and the false Kirito whipped around to smash his tail into her and flung her far across the wasteland.

Kirito charged in to defend her, but his double had already turned to face an incoming attacker. Instead of draining energy, this Burning Dragon's Fury siphoned off mana, and while the mana drained, energy started to restore itself. Kirito's assault quickly became a flustered defense, and his Elucidators were each in turn disarmed, thrown away, and the false Kirito shoved his own two Elucidators into Kirito's chest.

Klein interrupted his attack. It had been quite a few levels since he had last used a new special ability, and now was the best time to unleash another one. Just as Kirito's Burning Fury ended, Klein appeared to duplicate himself as he ran circles around the false Kirito. The double's second set of arms turned back into wings, and he threw all of the copied Klein's away with another whirlwind, with all blades, wings and tail whipping around and knocking enemies away.

Sinon finally got a clean shot in on the fake's leg, and he screamed, but not before simply turning to Sinon, and opening his mouth. What followed was a series of fireballs that burst all around Sinon and Leafa, forcing them to flee and defend themselves. Asuna had gotten up, and reactivated her Valkyrie state. She drew her spear, and it crackled with lightning. She threw it at the double, and it hit him. He cried out as he was electrocuted. But it simply wasn't enough damage, his health still above eighty-percent, while everyone else's was around fifty.

He charged at Asuna, using his tail to not only pull the crackling spear out of him, but gripping it and flinging it back at Asuna, forcing her to dodge the attack. He flew up into the air, and gained incredible speed, and tackled Asuna to the ground. He was thrust Wrath into the ground right near Asuna's head, and she was lucky to slip away from the strike.

Kirito leapt into his double, and knocked him away. His energy restored, he activated another Blade Dancer's Fury, and then, so did the false Kirito. Asuna got up and started to catch her breath. The pain was incredible, with the absorbers still set to the low twenty percent. Leafa was healing her, but it wasn't fast enough, and she was only slowly starting to stand.

As the two Kirito's danced in a clash of swords, the false suddenly broke his fury to knocked Kirito back with his tail. He flew close to the ground, and recovered his own Elucidators. When the false Kirito stopped, and landed to look back at his enemies, he saw their health was being restored, and each of them were already back above sixty percent. He was at about eighty-five. He sheathed all of his weapons, and smiled at his enemies. "No matter how well you fight as a team, you'll never kill me. Not until you can fly without relying on such frail creatures as pegasi!" He flapped his wings, and took off into the sky. "I'll kill you later, Kirito!"

"That was close," Leafa said. "Good thing he didn't bother to check my mana, I could only sustain us like that for a little while longer."

Asuna was now fully healed, and stretched herself. "I was just a half a second from getting him head shopped in two… it was really close."

"We need to prepare ourselves in case we run into him again. He's really powerful," Kirito said.

"Hopefully, we'll have Mithril next time," Klein said. "Would do us a big help to have armor that his weapons can't pierce."

"Then we should keep moving to Iceberg," Asuna said before mounting up. "So next time we see him, we can kill him!"

Kirito looked at her, and nodded. There was something about her now that he loved. He hadn't seen Asuna like this since after she had saved him… since she cleared Tartarus. There was a degree of confidence that had been lost in the months following. There was still something rather unsettling that she was also talking about killing Kirito, even if it was an insane doppelganger. But then there was something else that worried him. She had almost died in that battle, and he thought about how he might save her…

* * *

><p><em>Year 2, Month 10, Day 31<em>

"Kirito," Kayaba said. "Call it a reward for landing the final hit on this boss." The man held an item out to Kirito. He read it. "Sadly, it can only be used once, so use it wisely…" Kirito looked back up at Kayaba, and then shut his player inventory with the item inside of it.

* * *

><p><em>Year 3, Month, Day 19<em>

"It sucks our pegasi can't fly in the cold," Klein said. "It would be helpful in climbing these stupid mountains." The group had reached the southwestern edge of the Northern Mountains, and the journey from here on out would be by foot.

"Yeah," Sinon said. "But it's better to make sure we save our pegasi for when we need them. Otherwise, we'll be stuck without if they die, and we won't be getting anymore any time soon."

"Shouldn't Lisbeth have some dragons for us to ride by now?" Leafa asked.

"She kind of got side tracked with the whole Mithril thing," Asuna said. "Don't worry, we'll reach Iceberg soon enough. It'll feel like no time at all."

"Oh will you?" a whisper asked the group. Everyone stopped, and they all prepared to fight. The whisper had a tone of familiarity to it… GothGod.

"Come out," Kirito said as he gripped his swords tight. "Come and face us, coward!"

In the flurry of ashes and snow, a series of ghastly figures appears around them. "What are those?" Leafa asked. Each of the ghosts appeared to wear a cloak, and a plague mask. They each drew their own weapons, and started walking towards the group.

"We have crossed beyond into the plane of death," another whisper spoke. "And our prophet had delivered on his promise. Now we are undying. You cannot defeat us! Not ever!"

"We'll see about that!" Asuna proclaimed as she activated her Valkyrie state. A halo formed over her head, and wings of light appeared behind her. She drew her sword and shield, and the both of those items crackled with lightning. She swung her sword, and struck one of the ghosts with divine lightning, damaging it. And then as another attacked, she bashed it with her shield, also causing a bolt of lightning to shoot out, and hurt that enemy as well.

Sinon drew her arrows, and activated her ability. Four arrows all shot and hit different targets in the head. The ghosts vanished for a short time, and then reappeared. Klein performed his Quickdraw, but even as he struck a target, and it seemed to die, he failed to gain his multi-attack bonus. "What?" he questioned. "But that's…" The ghost appeared before him again, and he started to fight it.

Kirito went after another image with his dual swords. They were easy to vanish, but much harder to kill. In fact, it appeared as if the only one doing any degree of real damage was Asuna. "Kirito!" she shouted. "Only divine attacks are doing damage!" Each of the targets she struck would not vanish, but actually took damage normally.

"We'll have to fix that then, won't we?" GothGod asked as he appeared before them, in the flesh. He wielded his staff of dragon bone, and his black jade sword. He swing with both weapons at Asuna, who was then forced to focus on him instead of the ghosts. Though she fought with valor, she was no match for GothGod. The Black Prophet tapped his staff to the ground, and skeletal hands reached up from beneath all of the players, and grabbed a hold of them. After that, he took a step just out of Asuna's reach.

"Coward!" Asuna said. The ghostly Death Oath swarmed to attack her, and she defended herself. Kirito joined in her defense after using his blades to cut through the bony arms. Klein did the same, but went then to free Leafa and Sinon.

Kirito started off by helping Asuna, but after he managed to perform a whirlwind that caused all of the ghosts to vanish, he charged for GothGod, activating his Starburst Stream, and swinging wildly at the Black Prophet. The enemy vanished in a puff of smoke, and appeared behind Asuna. He gripped her hair, and kicked her legs to force her to the ground. "I swore," he said, whispering to Asuna. "I would kill you…" He raised his sword, about to swing at her head, when Sinon shot arrows at him, and stopped his attack. He realized his error in become overzealous of his goal, and vanished in smoke again. And then the whole of the Death Oath left them alone.

"Another close call," Asuna said as she took a breath.

"Yeah…" Kirito said, looking at her with great worry.

Asuna leapt onto him and hugged him tight. "You don't need to worry about me, I'm too lucky for these guys to fight."

* * *

><p>A few moments later, as the group continued their march, they found a cave to rest in for the night. Kirito and Asuna both left the cave to spend time together out in the snow. They stopped to look out at the world from an overhang, off in the direction of Newberg.<p>

"The world has become so dark," Asuna said. "I'm glad I have you."

"I'm glad I have you," Kirito told her. He looked at her, and leaned into her shoulder. "I almost lost you today."

"No you didn't," Asuna said, wrapping an arm around him and holding him. "Times can seem pretty bad right now. But we'll fix it all, I just know we will."

"How do you know?" Kirito asked her.

"I don't know. I just do. They call it faith. I have a good feeling that I'll get out of her soon, and I'll be able to see our daughter. You too! I want to hold her in my arms, no matter how big she is when we get out."

Kirito nodded. "I want to give you something," Kirito said.

Asuna's mind flashed back to that moment when Kirito proposed to her, and her heart dropped, and then lifted. She leaned away from him, and looked into his eyes. "Kirito…" she said.

"Close your eyes," he said to her, smiling. It was a pretend smile though. He got up, and she did as he requested, closing her eyes. He sighed, and his smile vanished once she did. He opened his player inventory. "I meant to give this to you a long time ago, but things got weird between us for a while, and I decided to hold onto it."

He read the item on his player inventory. It had a personal note attached to it from Kayaba. It read "Remember, Kirito. Only once. Once ever and this will never work again." He clicked a button to activate it. His hands started to glow with a strange energy, something white, and he looked down at Asuna. "I couldn't possibly give this gift to you then, or else… or else you would have never forgiven me. But now, with our love restored, I think… I think you can understand."

Asuna started to wonder now. The speech was getting weird. She opened her eyes at the last second. But when she looked up, it was too late. Kirito's palm was thrust against her head, and she started to feel funny. The cold of the snow no longer affected her, and even the touch of her love's hand on her head never reached her. Everything slowly started to turn white. Her body turned a pitch black, and her health bare began to read an error message.

* * *

><p>The first thing Asuna heard after the weird effect was the sound of a heart monitor beeping off to her side. Her eyes slowly blinked open, but the light from the room was extremely bright, and she had to squint, and her eyes had to adjust. She was short of breath and strength, and she groaned softly. Then, she heard his voice.<p>

"I'm sorry, Asuna," she heard. The sound was different than she was used to. "I know that you'll hate me for this… that I kept this from you, but I had to do it. This way… even if I die, Yuichi will not grow up alone. And she will have her mother. I do still plan on getting out of her someday. But that day may not be for a while. I don't want to wake up one day, and be greeted by our daughter, fully grown, because we spent years inside of this horrible world. Please… please forgive me. I promise we'll see each other again someday. But for now, it's better for everyone that you are safe…"

Asuna could barely lift her head. When she did, she saw her mother next to her, in utter shock. And projected onto the wall across from her bed, she was the footage from her disconnected avatar: Kirito holding her limp, in-game body up, and looking down into her eyes. "Kirito…" She began to panic, and the panic quickly turned to a fluster of feelings, one of them rage. She pulled her full dive gear off, and threw it with all of her strength, which was not much, against the wall. "Baka!" she screamed at the footage. Doctors suddenly entered the room to check on her, and her mother was trying to calm her down.


	35. Chapter 35: Login

Three days had passed since Asuna woke up in the hospital. She was still there. The first night, she didn't get much sleep, and the doctors gave her a shot that knocked her out for eight hours so that she could rest properly. A series of IV's were hooked up to her arm, and the monitors were still all watching her vital signs. It was a lot different from the game, where a player's vital stats boiled down to four or five simple components. When she looked at the monitors, she sometimes pretended that they each read off a different stat that she was used to. The heart monitor was her health, respiratory was her energy. There was a monitor that was tracking her brainwaves, and she figured that was will, but for spirit, she wasn't sure what she should be looking at. Mana, she decided, was the always full battery power on the screens. Since they were plugged in, the charge never drained, and in the real world, there was no magic.

It was boring. Even though her mother visited every day, Asuna had nothing to do except for watch television. The only thing she watched was the news, and the player feed television shows. The projector that was formerly showing Asuna's perspective within the game now showed Kirito's and she watched him almost twenty-four-seven. Her mother brought Asuna her laptop in the first day, and the IVRTF set a Pegasus account for her. She talked to her friends inside of the game through the system occasionally, but very little happened in three days.

To pass the time, she started visiting fan sites, some of which were dedicated to her, and after a short while of browsing them, she started registering accounts and talking directly with the people on them. At first, she didn't reveal her true identity, but one post she read on a #TrueLove blog got her to speak up.

[If I were Asuna, I'd want back into the game if for no other reason to slap Kirito a few times and give him a piece of my mind. Of course, I've never been in a death game and I'm not Asuna, so that's just me.]

She had been watching and participating on this site as a commenter for the past day or two, under the username KsGurl777. Most of the more direct references to her own name were already taken. It might be difficult to get people to believe that she is really who she says she is, especially since her release was televised a day ago. There were a lot of people pretending to be her.

"Oh," she wrote as a response. "Believe me, I am SUPER pissed. But it's not like anyone's letting me rejoin the game anytime soon." She started to write more, but then deleted what she had written, deciding that that would be plenty. Within a few seconds, responses started coming in, as always, but of course, she was seen as a faker.

[Oh look, another pretend Asuna.]

[You're despicable, pretending to be someone else like that.]

Asuna didn't care about those comments. She could prove who she was with just one picture from her laptop. She wouldn't though. She wasn't sure whether or not she even wanted people to know her true identity yet.

"Asuna." Kyouko walked into the hospital room just after lunch. Asuna's tray was still on the bed, and she was sitting up. She had only picked a couple bites from it, and as her mother walked in, she took notice. "You've hardly eaten," she said. "You need to eat you know. Your body is malnourished. Don't you remember last time?"

Asuna didn't even look up at her mother. She kept reading through the forums. "I'm fine," she said. "The doctors said I didn't need to worry about that as much. Biomedical technology and all that."

"You're not even going to look up from your computer? Asuna, I brought someone who you might want to see."

Asuna looked up then, and saw her mother was holding a small toddler, dressed in a pink floral dress. She immediately shut her laptop and put her food and the computer down on a stand next to her bed. "Is that—"

"Yes," Kyouko said as she carried the young Yuichi over to her, and set her down on the bed next to her mother. "Yuichi… say hello to your mama." Asuna shifted a little to the side to make room. She was at a loss of words at first. "Are you alright? You're as silent as she is…"

Asuna nodded and then pulled her daughter over to hug her. Despite having never been held in Asuna's arms before, or even seeing her moving around at all, Yuichi didn't seem to mind, as if she knew who Asuna was already. Asuna nearly broke down into tears. "Thank you," she said after a few moments.

"I thought it'd be good for you to see her. Maybe you wouldn't focus so much on that game anymore."

Asuna kissed the young girl's forehead, and cuddled her close. "No," she said. "I'm still going to watch it. Kirito has to make it out alive."

Kyouko nodded, and took a seat next to the bed. "The doctors said you should be able to leave here soon. They just want to monitor you for a few more days."

"Last time it took months of rehabilitation. I was in the hospital for weeks."

"Like you said, medical science has had a lot of breakthroughs in the last… what was it, six… seven years now? Coma patients are waking up without atrophy… it's pretty amazing how far we've come. Pretty soon they'll be able to extend human life another hundred years… maybe even indefinitely."

Asuna wasn't paying attention to her mother, she was fixated on her young daughter, making strange noises at her and playing with her. "What were you saying?" she asked out of the blue.

Kyouko shook her head and chuckled a bit. "Nothing…" she said. She looked at the time. "I have to leave, and, so will Yuichi-chan. I came by to visit you to see if I could lift your spirits up a little, but I was on the way to something in—"

"What?" Asuna asked, looking up at her. "You finally let me see my daughter and you're already taking her away? That's not fair…"

"Relax, Asuna," her mother told her before standing up. "We'll be back in a few hours. Yuichi has a checkup, and after that I have some business things to attend to. You're not trapped in that place anymore. It's not as if you'll never see her again."

Asuna nodded, and to the young girl's dismay, she was plucked up by her grandmother, and taken away. Asuna watched her leave, and smiled all the way up until she left the room. After that, she pulled her food over and started to clear her tray. Then it was back to the forums.

She wanted to address all of her apparently loyal and adoring fans, she decided. Seeing Yuichi for the first time made her forget her anger at Kirito, and in fact, she was kind of grateful. She turned on her laptop camera, and snapped a photo of herself in her hospital bed, holding up a peace sign and smiling. She uploaded the photo with her next comment, saying "I'm no faker. My name is Yuuki Asuna. And after some more thought (and a visit from a special someone), I've decided I'm no longer mad at Kirito. So all of your weird obsessed people can calm down now."

Then the comments really started to flood in. The photo went viral in less than a minute, and people all over the world were either expressing their excitement over Asuna's statement, or their skepticism. Many were trying to debunk the photo. It was photo shopped, and then it was Asuna's friend, and then it was a look alike, and after that it was the illuminati.

No one had any of Asuna's personal contact information, so there was no way to communicate her directly other than the forums and blogs she happened to visit and comment on with the username that was quickly becoming famous around the web. Under the suggestion of a stranger, she opened up a Twitter account. By that time, there were already a dozen more fake Asuna's prowling the web, and her usernames were starting to get harder and harder to craft.

On Twitter, she took the name TrueLoveAsuna, and linked it from an established account elsewhere to affirm her identity, and from there, used that account to confirm other accounts. Now with some place for fans to contact her more directly, she was flooded with love and praise, and questions… lots and lots of questions about the game, about Kirito, Eulsam, about Yuichi and her personal life. Everyone seemed to want to know everything about her.

As she watched her celebrity status take wing, she was stricken, in awe by the amount of people who knew her name, who called her a hero. She decided to post a quick video to the web, just in order to briefly address the flood of followers she now had and to answer some of the questions that came up a lot.

It was somewhat awkward for her. She'd never done anything like this before. When the recording started, she gave a wave to the camera and said, "Hi." There was a pause before she continued on, and she laughed at herself a little bit. She reached down to her laptop and started pulling things up. "Sorry, I've never done something like this before. I just have to say… this is all overwhelming. The number of people who are sending me messages is staggering. Most of them are in English, and I don't speak English, so I'm hoping there's enough of you out there to translate for me. Umm… so… anyways! I'm fine, thanks for asking, I guess. I've not even been out of the game three whole days, so I'm still readjusting to life on the outside. After three and a half years in a world where my life was constantly at risk, it's difficult coming back here, where doctors and nurses are constantly checking everything to make sure I'm okay."

She took a deep breath as she sifted through the mass of messages, trying to find which ones were the more common and easy to answer. "Yuichi… Yuichi's doing fine, I assume. I saw her for the first time just a couple hours back and it was really the happiest moment of my life, I think. I'm still kind of in shock from everything that's been happening and I only got to see her for a few minutes. I'll be able to see her again soon and I can't wait… I'm sure I'll have lots of more news about her in the future, but right now, I'm still out of the loop on a lot of things."

She looked back through the messages to find out which one to address next. "Kirito…" she said. "Kirito did the right thing. I was mad at first, but now that I've gotten to see my daughter, my perspective has changed. I'm upset with him for not at least talking to me about it first, but if he did, I would have rejected it. I'm glad I was able to see Yuichi, and when Kirito gets out of the game, I'm going to give him a big, wet kiss. I just hope he won't be trapped too long. This is all really exciting but… I think that's it for now. Bye!" With that, she stopped the recording, and uploaded it to the internet.

Asuna took a deep breath, and for now, she closed the browser and went over to Pegasus, where she started messaging Kirito. "Guess who I got to see," she typed to him.

* * *

><p>A few days later, Asuna sat up on the side of the bed, with her feet on the floor. One of the attending doctors and her mother were both there beside her, helping her up. She gripped a cane, and used it to help hold herself up.<p>

"The IVRTF VIP Hospital, IVH for short," the doctor explained, "Is off limits to public access. Outside of the gates there's a crowd of news media and fans. They'll want to talk to you, but you don't have to say anything to them. You'll already be in the limo and they won't be able to see you."

Asuna nodded to him. She was shaking as she tried to hold herself up. "You probably shouldn't talk to them," Kyouko warned. "The news likes to ask questions that you won't want to answer."

"I know," Asuna said. "I don't want to talk to them anyways. If I want to say anything, I'll post a video."

"There's reporters waiting at the house, too," Kyouko said. "You'll be stuck inside for a while, until they go away."

Asuna was slow walking. Even with the advancements of medicine, her body hadn't moved in three and a half years, and the connections between her brain and her spinal cord were weakened by the extended use of full dive technology. The strength of her muscles had little to do with her trouble walking. "I know, mom. I'll be fine. Where am I going to go, anyways?"

"Don't get it in your head that you'll be sitting around browsing the web all day, young lady. You need to keep your body moving."

"Your mother is right, Asuna," the doctor said. They helped her to the door, where she stopped for a moment. "Your muscles have healed nicely, but it will take more time for you to get used to moving around again. And it won't come back to you if you don't keep your body moving."

Asuna took a deep breath. "I know it seems like I'm still a little girl to you, mom, but I am in my twenties. It wasn't like I stopped maturing while I was trapped in SAO or in Vearth."

Kyouko pinched Asuna's arm, and she flinched. "I don't care how old or mature you are. You'll always be my baby girl. What do you want for dinner tonight? It'll be the first meal outside of the hospital you can eat."

"I don't know. What does Yuichi like?" Asuna asked.

"Yuichi is not even three years old, and doesn't even talk. She doesn't have a favorite food."

"She still hasn't said her first words, yet?" the doctor asked. "That's odd."

"I know, I'm honestly starting to worry that there might be something wrong with her."

"I think she likes seafood," Asuna said. "Yeah, I'm almost sure of it."

"You're only saying that because you like seafood," Kyouko said. "But if you want seafood, we can have seafood."

"She told me so!" Asuna declared.

"You're making that up."

"There's nothing wrong with my daughter. She can talk, and she told me she likes fish."

* * *

><p>Later that night, the Yuuki family sat around the table, eating a rather simple sushi dish. Yuichi did in fact seem to be enjoying the meal, but not nearly as much as Asuna, who ate through her plate faster than anyone. After years being trapped in the virtual world, and six days being trapped on a hospital bed, this simple meal was one of the greatest joys in life.<p>

After she finished, she helped Yuichi with her dish, picking up rolls of the sushi and hand feeding it to her. Yuichi looked at her funny, but ate nonetheless. "Asuna," her mother said. "She is old enough to eat on her own."

Asuna sighed at that, and watched her daughter as she ate. "I know," she said. "I've missed out on so much, though… I wish I could have been there when she needed help."

Kyouko shook her head. "So do I, would have saved me the trouble of raising another infant. The screaming in the middle of the night, the diaper changes, the refusal to eat anything when we started weaning her off of baby food and bottles. It would have been nice if her mother had been around, but there's nothing to be done about it now."

"Sorry," she said. "I would have, but I couldn't."

"I understand though," Kyouko said. "Bringing her up to this point… it's reminded me what it was like when you were younger."

"I noticed something different in you," Asuna said.

"You're not the only one," Asuna's father, Shouzou said. "Despite being woken up in the middle of the night, your mother seems to have reconnected with a much more youthful, happier version of herself."

"I can still teach her to talk," Asuna said looking at the young girl. "Can you say mama?" Yuichi looked at her, and then back to her food, picking up the last bit of sushi and eating it. She barely made any sounds, much less the sounds of actual words. "Yuichi…" Asuna got her daughter's attention again. "Say mama."

"It's useless," Kyouko said. "Her doctors haven't noticed anything wrong with her development other than that, and she's in perfect health. It's like she—"

"Ma—ma…" Yuichi spoke out. Everyone at the table looked on in surprise, except for Asuna, who simply smiled and nodded.

"There you go," she said. "Mama… that's me."

"Mama…" Yuichi reached out and touched Asuna's face.

"Looks like she was just waiting for her mama," Asuna said back to her family.

"Beginner's luck," Kyouko said. "And I warmed her up for you."

Asuna giggled at her mother, and nodded. "I'm sure you did, mom." After saying that, Asuna reached over and picked up the toddler, to cradle her in her arms as she sat at the table. "What's it like here?" Asuna asked. "Watching the game world from the outside?"

"It's not that exciting," Shouzou said. "And sometimes it can be pretty terrifying, especially what we see… or rather what we used to see from your hospital room."

"We don't watch it on TV," Kyouko said. "We watched in the hospital room so we could see how you were doing, but the shows over glamourize the situation, make it seem like the stakes aren't as real."

"The people seem to love it though," Asuna said. "I got over a hundred thousand followers on my Twitter in one day. I'm like a super star now…"

"Don't let it go to your head," Kyouko said. "You're no different than any other bright, young girl, and you've got your whole future ahead of you. You don't have to be defined by the years you spent fighting for your life. It's like the Roman gladiators sometimes, and it feels like many people watching don't care if their favorite players live or die."

"That's kind of depressing," Asuna said. As she held Yuichi against her, she started to fall asleep. "But… being able to come back home within just a few days of leaving the hospital… you being able to keep up with me while I was in the game. Don't the shows pay for all of that stuff?"

"Yes," Shouzou said. "But they could honestly be paying a lot more. Ever since the tournament you had in the game, they've made a tremendous fortune on it all. We've been collecting a fair amount of money ourselves, meant for you. It hasn't increased the wealth of our household by much, but to someone of a lower economic status, it would seem like winning the lottery."

"The television corporations that have bought exclusive rights were in trouble at first, but then things picked up." Kyouko got up, and started collecting dishes to wash. "They've recovered what they lost when they footed the bills for the players and their families' expenses. The money they're actually making from the show itself is barely enough to support it all. Where they are making their money though is in tangible products, and in investment stocks. Even people who don't like the show are more than happy to support the companies that are supporting the players. Only most of that profit is going straight to the people at the top of the business ladders. I saw an estimate about a week ago that nearly eighty percent of the money being made is going right to the top to line their pockets. And it's a gold mine."

Asuna nodded slowly. She didn't seem happy about that. "Is anyone trying to force them to share more money with the players?"

"Most of them are in the United States, and there's no legal grounds to force them to do so. The government there isn't going to interfere without legal justification. They see it as a fair capitalistic endeavor." Shouzou finished clearing the table and doing dishes.

Asuna still sat at the table, holding Yuichi. Her arms were getting tired, and the girl had passed out on her shoulder. Kyouko walked over to her, and pulled Yuichi from Asuna. "Time for someone to go to bed," she said. Asuna felt a little sad that she couldn't physically take her daughter to bed on her own. "I'm sure all that mental strain from actually talking put her right to sleep."

Asuna got up from her chair, and then sat back down and sighed. She couldn't bother to stand or walk right now. "Goodnight, Yuichi-chan," she said from her spot.

* * *

><p>"Yuichi called me mama," Asuna typed into the window. "It was the first time she spoke, I was so happy. And I wish you could have been there." She sent the message through Pegasus, to Kirito. She wasn't in any position to watch him at the moment, and so it was a conversation written back and forth between the two of them through the messaging system.<p>

[That's great. I hope we're not trapped much longer, or else I miss more of my time with the both of you. Things are pretty good here. We should reach Iceberg tomorrow, if all goes well.]

"Be careful, Kirito," Asuna said. "If I lost you… I don't know what I'd do. Don't worry too much about me though, with Yuichi, I have something to keep me going. But still… please don't die. Come back in one piece." After she sent the message in, she waited for a response, but none came for a few moments, until…

[Something's up. I have to go.]

Asuna felt something tug at her, and she looked out her window at the cloudy, night sky. A clash of thunder struck out, and it started to pour down rain. She flipped over to another tab, and looked through some more forums. She was reading discussions about the show, and how much the corporate entities were making off of it in direct comparison to the players. She flipped to another tab, and smiled at all of the positive responses she got from her adoring fans—people she had never met—after posting the news about her daughter's first words.

After that, she yawned, and looked at the time on her machine. It was getting late, and so she put her computer away and crawled into bed.

She woke back up, and the rain had passed, and it was sunny outside. The first thing she did was open her laptop and pull up Pegasus. She sent a message to her love. "Good morning, K." She left it there, and then got up to do her morning routine.

The routine was less familiar now. And it was somewhat difficult to make it through it all on her own, but she managed. Instead of a shower, she had a bath, since she couldn't stand very well still. She got dressed sitting down, and it took her a whole two minutes to make the short trip from her room to the bathroom. An hour had passed after that first message, and when she returned to look at the screen, she hadn't gotten a response.

"Kirito?" she sent in. She got up, and walked to the door.

"Asuna!" her mother shouted. "Breakfast is ready! Do you need help getting downstairs?"

Asuna shook her head, and walked slowly to the top of the stairs with her cane. "No, I can handle it," she said back. She sighed as she looked down those steps. 'Back to level one,' she thought. She had been fighting tooth and nail against dragons and murderers, and surviving the shattering of Vearth. Now she was fighting tooth and nail to stand up on her own, to walk straight, and surviving simple trips up and down the stairs. Her mighty, crackling blade was now a walking stick. She wondered if this was what it must be like to be old, too.

Shouzou came to her as she stood there, looking down. "Let me help you," he said as he held his arm towards her. She nodded, and grabbed hold of him. Her other hand gripped the rail tightly, and slowly, she moved down those steps, and sat down at the bottom while Shouzou brought her cane from the top. She'd done this whole song and dance before, after returning from being trapped in Sword Art Online and then in Alfheim. "Is everything okay, Asuna?"

She shook her head. "No," she said. "I want to see Kirito. He had to leave last night, and he didn't respond to my message this morning. I'm worried."

Shouzou sat on the stairs next to her. "That happened a lot when you were in the game," he told her. "But it never turned out to be anything to worry about. You always pulled through, even when things seemed at their worst."

"Are you telling me you won't take me?"

He shook his head. "No," he said. "I can take you after breakfast if you really want me to. But you shouldn't worry so much about him." The sound of a buzzer rang off. Shouzou went up to the front door and looked out. Seijiro was standing outside of the gate to the driveway, and he buzzed him in.

"Who is it?" Asuna asked as she gripped her cane and stood up.

"Seijiro," Shouzou said. He looked back to his daughter, who had a look of dread in her face. "It's probably nothing. He said he'd drop by to see you, so this isn't unexpected."

Once Asuna's dad let Seijiro in, they exchanged a greeting, but all Asuna could think about was what grave peril Kirito might be in. "Asuna," Seijiro waved to her.

"Seijiro!" Asuna said. "Is Kirito okay?"

Seijiro blinked at her, and nodded. "Last I heard, Kirito is fine. What's wrong?"

"He hasn't said anything back to me. I told him good morning, and he hasn't responded." Seijiro nodded slowly to her.

"Asuna," Shouzou said. "You worry too much. Go sit down and eat some breakfast. I'm sure Kirito will get back to you by the time you're finished."

"Hai." Seijiro stepped a little closer to Asuna. "Don't forget, the sun has been blotted out on Vearth. The players' sense of night and day is gone from them. He may be sleeping."

Asuna nodded, and headed into the dining room to take a seat. Yuichi was already sitting down, and she happily took the seat next to her. "Are you any closer to getting the players out?" Asuna asked the IVRTF agent.

Seijiro shook his head. "No," he had to admit. "Though, your being logged out of the game has presented us with some new data. We've been analyzing it for the past week, but it looks like the coding that got you out of the game has been patched against already, automatically, by the system."

"Or by GothGod…" Asuna looked at Seijiro. "What about him? Any closer to taking care of him?"

Seijiro shook his head again. "Even if we were, I couldn't tell you. It's a risky battle against an enemy we cannot fight in the real world… an enemy who can at any second launch a massive nuclear attack without warning. Taking care of him will be tricky. But if we do take him out, and we're sure of his demise, I'll make sure you're the first to know outside of the IVRTF and national authorities."

Asuna sighed, and nodded. "Okay," she said. "Well hurry it up."

"Asuna," Shouzou said. "Cut the man some slack. He's doing what he can."

"I have to agree with my daughter," Kyouko said. "Yuichi needs a father… Asuna needs a husband to help raise her."

"No concern for the other sixty-nine thousand players?" Seijiro asked. "I have to worry about all of them too, you know. If I could extract just Kirito, I wouldn't. I wouldn't have pulled you out either, Asuna."

"That's a harsh thing to say, Seijiro," Kyouko said. "Especially in my house."

Seijiro shook his head, and waved his hands innocently. "No offense, Mrs. Yuuki. It's just…" He sighed. "With the shattering, there's only a handful of capable players left to defend the weaker ones, and keep up the fight against the criminals of Vearth. Players like Kirito… like Asuna… they're our biggest allies in keeping things safe inside of the game. As difficult as it is to accept, we need high level players like them to fight enemies on the inside. Death Oath… the Red Hand… the remainder of the Laughing Coffin. We're doing all we can out here. But inside of the game, they… you, personally, Asuna… have saved hundreds of lives, more than once."

"We're not your soldiers," Asuna said. "If you get the opportunity to extract a hero from the game, then you should take it."

"Regardless of that, we have no way of logging players out of the game, so it's a pointless discussion to have." There was a moment of silence, and everyone ate for that moment. "I'm sorry," Seijiro said. "It is a pointless discussion to have, so I didn't need to bring it up at all. That's not why I've come here. I came to see how you were doing, Asuna."

Asuna shrugged. "I'm fine, I suppose. I'm worried about Kirito, but I'm happy to get to see my daughter."

"She's quite the cute little one," Seijiro said. "I remember seeing her a few months after she was born, and I met with your mother in the hospital. She was looking at everything, like she was just amazed by everything around her."

Asuna sighed, and looked at Yuichi. "I wish I could have been there."

"You were, in a way," Seijiro said. "That was when you were clearing Tartarus, and she watched you lead the charge against the Erinyes."

"Oh?"

"It's like she was already making the connection between the real you, lying on that bed, and the avatar of yourself within the game."

"She was just a baby," Kyouko said. "Don't be ridiculous."

As the conversation went to Asuna and her mother, Seijiro got a text, and opened up his phone to read it.

[Kirito captured by Red Hand. It looks bad.]

He looked to Shouzou, and showed him the text. He would leave it up to him if they would bring that news to Asuna. Shouzou nodded. He wouldn't keep that news from his daughter.

"Asuna," Seijiro said, interrupted the conversation. Shouzou got up from the table, and went around to Kyouko. After a whisper, Kyouko picked Yuichi up and took her out of the room. Asuna looked as that happened, and already started to figure things out. "News about Kirito. It's not good."

* * *

><p>It wasn't until a couple hours later that Asuna walked into the hospital room where Kirito was staying. In there with him was Kirito's aunt, Kirigaya Midori. Her eyes were glued to the projected images, and she turned to Asuna as she walked in. "Asuna," she said.<p>

"Midori," Asuna said back in greeting. She sat down on the other side of Kirito's bed, the side closer to the front door. Shouzou followed his daughter in, but Seijiro had returned to the observation headquarters. "What's happening?"

Midori shook her head. On the screen, Kirito was stripped of weapons, and bound to the ground by shackles on his wrists. He couldn't stand up, and all around him were Red Hand players, trying to figure out what they wanted to do with him. Some seemed to want to try and convert him, others wanted him dead. Everyone wanted him to suffer.

Kirito looked up at an approaching figure. Talia, the vice commander, approached him. "Kirito," she said. "I was elated to learn who I would be meeting here today. The high command has discussed for a long time what we would do to the great heroes of Vearth if we ever managed to take them alive."

"System command!" Kirito shouted. "Turn player camera off… length: indefinite." At that moment, the footage stopped, and Asuna gasped.

"Is it over?" Midori asked. She shook her head, and started to cry. "Is this the end?"

Asuna looked over at an open laptop next to Midori. "Midori," she said. "Send the message in to Leafa. She'll help him."

"And send the one I have left to die, too?" Midori asked. She shook her head. "I can't ask her to do that."

"She can help fight!" Asuna shouted.

"Asuna," Shouzou said. "Sending a message like that is against the rules. Even if you sent something like that in… there's no telling how the terrorists might retaliate."

"I don't care!"

"Asuna, please."

"Asuna," Midori said. "I'm sorry, but I would like for you to go."

Asuna shook her head. "No," she said. "I want to be here with him. I can't leave him now!"

"Asuna, we have to leave now," Shouzou said. "We have to respect the visitor policy or else you won't be allowed back…" Asuna shook her head, and stood up to reach for Kirito. She couldn't stand for long though, and wound up falling to her knees. Shouzou went to help her up. "I apologize," he said to Midori.

"It's understandable," Midori said. "I need this time alone with him, though. Asuna… please understand that. I know you love him, but he is my son."

Asuna nodded slowly, and gave Kirito a kiss to the lips before she pulled herself up, and started walking towards the door. As they sat outside of the room, Asuna looked up to her father. "I left my laptop in my room when I left. Can you get it for me?"

"Use mine," Seijrio said as he set his own laptop on Asuna's lap. She looked up at him. "Things are hectic within the game, but as usual, we're helpless to act outside of the game."

As Asuna opened up Pegasus, she saw the list of names. Every single player in the game could be messaged through Seijiro's account, and even the group of VIP's, where her own name was included, was long enough to merit a good deal of scrolling to browse. "Aren't you worried about me sending messages that would upset the integrity of the game?"

Seijiro shook his head. "At this point, the other players already know Kirito's been captured. They're formulating a plan to rescue him." After a moment, he looked back at Asuna. "Do you want to see?"

Asuna looked up at him, and nodded. Seijiro tabbed to a window where the events were already being streamed to his laptop. Eulsam was leading the party, as he always did, formulating a plan to rescue the hero, Kirito.

"Director," Asuna said to him. "If I wanted to go back into the game—"

"Asuna!" Shouzou said. He looked her in the eyes, taking her attention away from the computer. "Don't say such a thing. After all of the times your mother and I have watched as you nearly died, after missing nearly three years of your daughter's life… you can't possibly be serious."

"But… Kirito."

"No," Seijiro said. "We simply couldn't allow it. The only player to leave the game gets back in, thanks to the IVRTF. I would be fired. The whole organization would be seen as a failure. You can watch. You can talk to the players. But you cannot re-enter the game at this point."

"Baka!"

"Asuna, think about your daughter. Think about your mother. What if you died? What if Yuichi grew up with neither you nor Kirito?"

Asuna remained silent for a moment, and looked away in defeat. They were absolutely right. Yet… was the possibility still there? If there was even the slimmest chance that she could save Kirito from death, just one more time… she would take it. But if she couldn't secure any full-dive devices, it wouldn't make a difference.

"I want to go home," Asuna said.

"A moment ago, you wanted to be by Kirito's side. Are you sure?"

Asuna nodded. "I want to see Yuichi… I want to be in my old room again. I can't be here right now with all of this going on around me. Besides, I'll be here a long time if I stay now. They won't kill him right away. It could take… days." She wiped a tear from her eyes, and handed Seijiro his laptop. "Please… I want to leave."

* * *

><p>Another week went by. When the time for a rescue mission came, it was a failure, the forces of the Red Hand too ready for an attack. A couple of the forces going in to rescue Kirito had been killed in action, and the rest were scattered across the land after they had fled. Asuna watched the whole thing go down, and afterwards, she returned home, and she hadn't said a word to anyone.<p>

She locked herself in her room, and opened up her laptop again to see her Twitter feed. The episode detailing Kirito's capture and the subsequent failure to rescue him had aired. Fans were sending her comforting messages, but she didn't respond to any she had read. She only came out of her room to eat.

As she sat at the table for dinner, she looked down at her food. Yuichi had noticed something the matter by now, and looked up at her mother. "Mama," she said, holding her arms out to Asuna.

"Listen to your daughter, Asuna," Kyouko said. "She's right."

Asuna looked up at her, and then to Yuichi, she tried to force a smile, and then looked back down at her food. "She only said 'mama.' You're the one who said she was too young to understand what she couldn't know."

"I think she says you should stop being so down," Kyouko said. "She can tell when things are wrong with you, you're her mother."

"It's not that easy…" Asuna turned and picked her daughter up, holding her close and resting her cheek against her short, black hair.

"You should accept the fact that things are out of your control at least," Shouzou said. "If you let this have power over you, it will impede your ability to function as a human being… to be a mother to your child."

"Kirito could die at any moment," Asuna said. "And every moment he doesn't, they hurt him."

"Perhaps you shouldn't talk about such things in front of her," Kyouko said as she finished her meal. "She can hear things, even if she doesn't talk much."

"K-kito," Yuichi said. Asuna gasped, and her eyes widened. She looked down at Yuichi. It wasn't just what she said, but how she said it. Once again, Asuna's parents were shocked. "Papa…"

"Yes," Asuna said. "Kito…" She kissed her daughter's head, and rubbed her back gently. Yuichi pressed against her mother's bosom, and yawned quietly.

"Do you need me to take her?" Kyouko asked.

Asuna shook her head. "No, I can take her." She stood up from the table, and left without eating a bite of the food on her plate. She took the child to her bedroom, and laid her down in her crib. After that, she stood, and watched over her until she was fast asleep, and then even a little longer. "You're so strong, Yuichi," she whispered. "You do understand, don't you? And you're not crying. You're not even worried." She brushed Yuichi's patch of hair, and smiled down at her. "Mama loves you, Yuichi… don't ever forget it. I'll protect you forever… but first… I have to save papa. I'll be back again someday, I promise."

* * *

><p>Asuna sat on her bed, in her room. "Asuna?" Shouzou asked through the door as she knocked on it. "Asuna get some sleep, won't you? You need your sleep. We're going to bed, okay?" There was no response. "We love you, Asuna. You know that right?"<p>

Asuna looked down at her hands, and cried. She heard her father walk away from the door, and then got off of the bed. She pulled out from beneath it an old shoe box, and inside of it, she had hidden something—her spare full-dive system. She put it on her head, and laid down on her bed once it was plugged into the wall to charge. She had a hand-written note that she clutched to her belly, and she looked up at her ceiling.

Outside the door, Kyouko approached. She wanted to try to lift her daughter's spirits, but as she approached she heard from within, "Link start!" She quickly ran into the room, but it was too late. She looked at her in shock, and fell to her knees to cry at the edge of Asuna's bed.

* * *

><p>Asuna could only see bright lights fly past her, and hear the sound of the machine starting up. It ran through its system checks. Senses were all overridden, and then, Asuna was back in the game.<p> 


	36. Chapter 36: The Greatest Story Ever Told

_The Distant Future_

The hospital room itself had no discernible sources of light. The light in the room seemed to be ambient, coming from no particular source. The white sheets of the beds were draped over two individuals. Nothing connected to these two save for a single tube, like an IV. Vital signs were monitored on translucent LED screens behind the headboards of the beds. Across from the beds, footage of the virtual world was projected, not on the wall, but on thin air.

The sound of crying could be heard. It was faint, but it was there. A girl sat on the right side of the patient was laying on the left bed, and she looked between both of those two. This girl looked to be about five feet in height. Her skin was fair, and hair jet black, save for bright, violet highlights. The tears fell onto a black skirt that covered her legs just past her knees, and ended in several points at its hem. Underneath the skirt she wore long stockings, a deep purple. Her feet were adorned by black leather boots—biker boots—and she wore a leather jacket to match.

"Mama… Pappa…" she spoke. "I promise... I will save you, no matter what it takes." The projected in-game images were of Kirito and Asuna, both sitting back to back in a dark room. Their in-game vitals were all low. The girl got up from Asuna's bed, and grabbed a black helmet on her way out the door. She looked back at them one last time, her hair whipping around her face, and she wiped the tears from her deep, blue eyes. "No matter what…"

* * *

><p><em>Year 3, Month 6, Day 10<em>

The hooves of the horse beat against the ground, stamping out snow and ash as the rider traveled down from the mountainous region. Her long, red hair flowed behind her and she wore heavy armor. As Asuna charged down the hill, approaching her destination, she received a message. She opened her player menu, and seeing it was from her mother, ignored it for now.

"Sorry," she said for her mother to hear. "I know that I've hurt you, but this is something that I decided I have to do. No matter what it takes! I will save Kirito!"

"Asuna?" she heard a voice as she rode on. While she giving her monologue, she had ridden past a fellow player. She stopped her horse after a few paces and turned to meet back up with the player.

As she approached, and saw his identity, she jumped from her horse and hugged him. "Eulsam!" she shouted.

"Asuna, what are you doing here?" he asked. "I was told what happened. I saw your disconnected avatar. You shouldn't be here… you can't be here now!"

She shook her head. "I couldn't just let Kirito die." She looked at Eulsam's health, and quickly went to pull out a health potion. "What are you doing? Drink up!" she said, forcing the potion on him.

He took it, and drank it, restoring his health partway. Then, suddenly, he wretched in pain, and keeled over. His health bar dropped another small amount.

"Eulsam?!" Asuna shouted. "What's wrong?"

Eulsam reached up to his collar, and pulled out the skull charm necklace. "I'm doing everything I can," he said. "But I don't have much left in me… Do you have any more health potions?"

Asuna nodded, and pulled out more health potions. Eulsam started downing them fast. "Eulsam," she said. "Give that to me. I will gladly suffer for him!"

Eulsam shook his head. He grabbed her by the jaw, and stared at her, not knowing whether or not he wanted to slap her or kiss her or just tell her off. "The last thing Kirito would want is for me to give this to you. If you both die, then Yuichi will grow up without either of you." Soon, Eulsam's health was fully restored.

"But it's all I can do until I reach him," Asuna said.

"Reach him? What, so you're going to storm the Red Hand base all on your own, rescue your boyfriend, and end this game?" Eulsam asked. "Girl… you've got a serious mental problem."

"What else do you expect me to do?" she asked.

"We assaulted their forces with an army, and they were too many and too strong for us. One player doesn't stand a chance against them!" He took a deep breath. "I expect you to come back with me, to Iceberg, where we will formulate a new strategy."

"There's no time for that!" Asuna said. "They'll kill him, and you too! We have to fight now…"

Eulsam grabbed her by the arm, and started to march back the direction she came from. "No," he said. "We need a plan. We need reinforcements. We need you to stop being careless, and doing such stupid things as to come back into the game when you got out!"

"That was my personal choice," she said. "I don't need you judging me for that." She resisted his pull, and took her hand back.

Eulsam turned around to look at her. He slapped her once across the face. "Baka!" he shouted. "Idiot! Moron! I cannot believe you!"

Asuna stepped back from him, rubbing her face. "What?"

"You're really so selfish that you think coming back into the game was a personal choice?" he asked. "How dare you! Anyone could have used that logout. Not a single person in this world would have made the decision to return… except for you. You wasted it. The rarest, most valuable and coveted item in the whole game. You coming back here is a giant slap in the face to every player here, to your family… to your daughter, Asuna!"

Asuna shook in her spot. He… he was right about that, she did waste something that any other player would have killed to have. "I had to though… I just."

"No," Eulsam said. "You didn't. But you're here now, so come with me, and don't be so stupid as to throw away your life in the same day."

Asuna frowned, and turned her head down. She started crying, and fell to her knees. "I'm sorry," she cried out. "I couldn't sit there and watch… and do nothing. I have to do everything I can to save the one I love!"

Eulsam sighed, and shook his head. "I'm not the one you have to apologize to, Asuna. I wouldn't have wanted that item used on me even if it could have been."

"Why not?" Asuna asked, looking up at him.

"My father has turned into a murderer. My mother lives across the Pacific Ocean, and thinks of me as the traitor child in her family. The friends I made playing the SAO beta are mostly dead, and the ones who aren't haven't spoken to me since. And… I've lost you as well, Asuna. I have nothing left in the real world. My place is here, doing everything I can to protect the players."

Asuna pointed at him. "Then you would have come back too, so don't yell at me for rejoining the game."

"That is irrelevant," he said. "It would have never been used on me."

"And that's not true, Eulsam," she said. "I may have ended up rejecting you for Kirito, but you knew that would happen sooner or later. And you have friends here… "

"That's not what you told me." Eulsam turned away and kept on walking. A moment later, he felt a sharp pain in his leg, and fell to the ground as his health again dropped. He took and drank another health potion.

Asuna got up and caught up to him quickly. "I know what I told you," she said. "I was wrong about that. I'm sorry that I misled you, but please don't shut me out over that. That would be petty, and I know you're not a petty person."

"Asuna," he said as he kept walking. "You don't know me well, then."

"So what's your next big plan, huh?" Asuna asked as she walked with him. "Going to rally the troops? That worked out so well for you, didn't it?"

"If you're going to sit here and make jabs at me, I'll rally the forces myself, and try again with a revised strategy. We didn't know how many there were the first time. Next time will be different. Most of our forces escaped. We will meet in Iceberg."

"And in the meantime," Asuna said. "They'll grow bored of punishing my Kirito, and decide to kill him. Then your life will be forfeit as well."

"Well, Asuna," Eulsam said. "What's your plan? Hmm?"

Asuna shook her head. "I don't know. But we're running out of time. We'll message players to meet up closer to the Red Hand base."

"So that they can come and attack us while we're still gathering our forces?" Asuna stopped. It seemed like a much better idea in her head. "Asuna, Iceberg is a fortified town. That is where we must assemble a new army."

Asuna left him on his path, and mounted back up to ride where she was already headed. "I'm going to save Kirito. You can either come with me, or let me go in alone."

"It's suicide…" Eulsam said.

"You just told me you have nothing to live for except to protect players. Kirito is one of those players and so am I. The two of us both being alive suits protecting players better than you being alive."

"What's your game, girl?"

"If you wish to fulfil your last sacred duty, then you will come with me now!"

Eulsam stopped, and sighed heavily. He smiled and chuckled. "Interesting choice of words."

"I looked it up," Asuna said. "On the outside. The theme song you chose for the arena matches. There's a pretty cool video of you and Kirito fighting and that song playing over it. You see yourself as a hero. So come be a hero…"

After a few moments of silence, Eulsam held his head up high. "What was it like… being back on the outside?"

"I never woke up from the nightmare," Asuna said. "It won't end until Kirito and I are both safe, and living together with our daughter, Yuichi. Your goal is to protect everyone you can. My goal is to protect the only person in this game who matters more than anyone else. Will you help me?"

Eulsam thought for a moment, and then nodded. "I will join you," he said. "But if things go south, promise me one thing…"

"What?"

"Let me die in your place, and you go back to Iceberg." Eulsam took that necklace charm off, and tossed it at her. She grabbed it, and put it on.

"Deal." And with that, Eulsam climbed onto the horse, and took the reins, Asuna holding tight to him, and readying health potions.

* * *

><p>Once they were away from the cold, the two mounted a pegasus, and flew the rest of the way. The trip picked up fast from there, and they arrived just outside of the Red Hand town. After they got off the horse, and Asuna drank another health potion, they drew their weapons.<p>

"Here's the plan," Eulsam said. "First, time to take that thing off. If they can hit you and Kirito at once, it will be bad news for everyone." Asuna nodded, and took the charm off, and put it into her inventory. "Now, the guards aren't going to be on high alert. They won't be expecting another attack so soon, especially from just the two of us."

"Right," she said. "So we're playing a stealth mission here."

"That being said, we don't know where in the base Kirito is being held, so we'll want to do as much scouting as possible, and prepare for a long mission."

Asuna pointed to a large tent within the town. "There. When I was outside, I got to see the IVRTF's three dimensional map of the base, with Kirito's location marked."

"That's lovely," Eulsam said. "One good thing to come from you returning, I suppose."

"When we rescue Kirito," Asuna said. "We can make that two." She moved down a hill and into the tent city, staying low and watching out for guards and other players. Eulsam moved in after her, and they approached the tent.

When they entered, they came in on a crowd of Red Hand, all taking turns landing blows on Kirito. Kirito was the first to see the two of them come in, and he blinked at Asuna, surprised to see her. A few of the players turned to see Asuna and Eulsam, and drew their weapons. Soon, everyone there had weapons drawn.

"I will run a distraction," Eulsam said. "Now's your chance!" He charged in at the players, and started hacking at them. But only a couple strikes in, he was drawing them out of the tent and into the open.

A few of them went for Asuna, and swung weapons at her. She blocked the first blow with her shield, and stopped a second attacker with her spear. Then, she activated Valkyrie mode, and appeared as a fighting angel before the group. More players were drawn to her, and she kept them back with wide swings of her spear. Any who got to close would get her shield rammed into their faces, knocking them down and out.

Once the group that attacked Asuna was limping and fleeing the battle, she knelt down next to Kirito. With a swing of her sword, she broke his chains, and then embraced him tightly. "Kirito…" she said to him. "I thought I might lose you. I'm so sorry but I had to come back for you, I just—I hope you—"

Kirito broke her apologetic speech with a single kiss, and then hugged her back. "It's fine, Asuna," he said. "I love you, and so I understand." Asuna smiled, and closed her eyes as she hugged back. Kirito's health was low again, sitting at about forty percent. She gave him some health potions to heal him right up. "I don't have weapons or armor," he said. "Do you have any to spare?"

Asuna shook her head. "Let's get you out of here," she said. "We'll get you some new ones later." He stood up with her, and they left the tent.

Outside, Eulsam was beaten, and being held by a group of players. The entire encampment had surrounded the tent, and from the crowd, Talia stepped forward. "Really?" she asked. "Did you really think you could come in here, all alone, and walk out of here just like that?"

Eulsam looked up at Asuna, and stared at her, wanting her to make due on her promise. "We're not alone," Asuna proclaimed. "The cavalry is coming, so you better be ready! We're going to take every one of you out!" Kirito looked at her. He didn't know if she was telling the truth or not, but he seemed hopeful.

Talia laughed at her, and shook her head. "There's no cavalry coming," she said, addressing her guild. "You've got nothing to worry about. This was a stroke of desperation, by once legendary heroes. Kirito has no weapons or armor, he will be easy to take. Asuna will fall just like Eulsam, overwhelmed by sheer numbers. And then we'll have all three of them. We should have a party… an execution party after this!" The Red Hand all cheered, and Asuna gripped her shield and sword tightly. Talia was the type who wouldn't believe anything they said… even if it was true, so bluffing fell flat here.

But then, something strange happened. It was like a spark in the space between the Red Hand and the two players. What followed that was what appeared to be a fall of sand, down in a spiral pattern in an endless loop.

A pair of feet started to glow, and then legs, and the effect moved upwards until a whole body was formed. In a flash of light, a new player dropped to the ground—a girl. Her hair was completely of violet, and done in two large pig tails. She wore unrecognizable armor: a black skirt of a heavy cloth, which appeared to sheath many long, purple swords; a black shirt with purple lining, long sleeved; a set of thigh-high stockings, black and purple, and a pair of metal boots, with blades attached to the feet. In her hands were two blades, but not just any blades, two Elucidators.

"What's this?" Talia asked, looking at her. The in-game name of the player read 'Sachui,' and her level was unreadable.

Sachui looked around, taking in her surroundings. Even to Eulsam, who was the highest level of any of them, at one-fifty-two, could not read her level, which meant her level was at least two-o-two. It only took the girl a second to realize the enemy in this scenario: the Red Hand. She smiled at Talia, and raised one of the two blades towards her. "Let's dance," she said.

Talia took a step back, and drew her weapons. They were a pole-arm blade, and a short sword. She was a gladiator, and she charged at Sachui. Sachui took a step to the side, as fast as lightning, and performed a spinning maneuver, whipping around and slashing Talia across the back. In just that one hit, Talia was brought low, to two percent of her health. She hit the ground with a thud, and screamed out in pain.

"Next!" Sachui shouted before charging into the group. Asuna and Kirito watched on, confused by this sudden mystery player, and impressed by what appeared to be unbelievable skill. As she spun, so did her skirt, and the swords that appeared sheathed in it extended out. She danced, twirling through the crowd, and her skirt was like a whirlwind with every single movement she made, slashing at targets trying to attack.

Though the blades of the dress did minimal damage, the two Elucidators she wielded were a one-hit-kill for every target she struck, no matter the force or power she put into it. The Red Hand let Eulsam go, and he joined the fight again, but mostly against fleeing Red Hand. After he saw them all running, he went back to where Kirito and Asuna were watching in awe.

After the Red Hand had had fled the scene, Sachui walked back to Talia, who was desperately downing health potions, and held her right blade to her once more. "Talia of the Red Hand," she said. Then she whipped both blades around, and sheathed them behind her back. "You do not die here… you are free to go!" Talia nodded, and got up to run from the girl.

Before the fight was over, four hulking minotaurs approached, each dual wielding heavy blades. Talia stopped as they moved to engage the wild card. "Hah!" she shouted as she turned back. 'Good luck fighting those! Kill that woman!"

The monsters all moved to attack. Sachui leapt from her spot, and the blades all struck the ground. The other three players all started moving. Asuna and Kirito stayed back. He had no weapons still, but as he looked on at the fight, and at Sachui literally dancing between the swings of the blades, he was astonished to see the girl chuck her two Elucidators at Kirito. Kirito caught them both, but seemed surprised when he looked at them. "Asuna," he said.

"What?" she asked.

"These swords…" he said as he examined them. "They were crafted by Michiko! These aren't just look-alikes. These… these are my Elucidators!"

Asuna blinked, and turned to look at the fighting girl. She had drawn two of the purple swords from the skirt, and was using them to fight. "But… that's impossible. Where would she have gotten them from?"

As Asuna was trying to figure things out, Sachui slid back through the dirt after having blocked a blow. "Okay," she said. "Time to stop playing around. Valkyrie Mode!" Just then, a set of large wings appeared on her back, all made of light, and a halo of light appeared over her head. Her two swords appeared to grow in size, and shine with bright lights.

"What?" Asuna shouted. "Last I checked, Valkyries didn't dual wield swords like that!" Then, Sachui went even farther. The wings moved, and she lifted herself into the air. "Nor… could they fly."

Kirito rubbed his head, not even bothering to fight anymore, baffled by the girl enigma. "Blade Dancer's Fury!" the girl shouted as she flew into the Minotaurs. She struck hard over and over with her blades, and as she started to sink them into the monsters, she drew more from her weaponized attire.

"She's not a Valkyrie," Eulsam said as he looked on in shock. "She's a Swordmaster!" Kirito and Asuna looked on, and each dropped their jaws. "But her level is high… impossibly high." As the three watched the fight, Eulsam continued to explain. "Every ten levels, a Swordmaster can learn a new fighting style. But at level one-fifty, that changes to being able to learn class abilities from those learned styles. But… it's not until level two hundred that she should be able to use class abilities in different styles than should be allowed. At one hundred and fifty-two, I can see a player's level up to fifty levels above my own, but hers… remains hidden."

"Impossible," Asuna said. "No one's that high, not even the AU Kirito." Before long, Sachui was finished with the monsters.

Sachui looked at Kirito, Asuna, and Eulsam, and a smile beamed on her face. "Oh. My. God!" she shouted out in excitement. The three players all took a giant leap backwards, having no idea what to expect. Sachui stopped to look at them, and their confusion. "Oh!" she said. "Right, I need to introduce myself first, because you have no idea who I am!" She bowed before them. "I apologize. My name… my real name… is Yuichi Kirigaya."

The three players all let out shocked sounds of disbelief. "What?" Asuna said. "That's not possible. You—Yuichi is not even two years old. You can't be Yuichi!"

"Did you see that effect before she arrived?" Kirito said. "It was… exactly the same as the sands of time effect we saw when our doubles appeared. So she's got something to do with time travel."

"Hai," she said.

"B-but. Time travel in the real world isn't possible, even if you have that element in the game," Eulsam said. "Unless…" He suddenly looked very dark, and afraid of something.

"What is it?" Asuna asked.

"It would be possible," he said. "To create the illusion of time travel by altering our memories. It is possible then, that if we are seeing the real Yuichi before us, that we have progressed what could be as much as thirteen or fourteen years in this game, and our memories of the past thirteen or fourteen years have been completely wiped out…"

Kirito looked at Eulsam, and back at Yuichi. "That would mean…"

"If she is telling the truth," Eulsam said. "Then the last thirteen years of our lives has been erased from our minds. And we've been trapped in this game… for nearly sixteen years."

Asuna blinked, and shook her head. She fell to her knees. "No," she said. "That's not true. That can't be true."

"Please don't panic!" Yuichi said to them. "You're not trapped. I can affirm this for a fact. I remember growing up, and you were there to raise me… Mama, papa… We grow up together. You get out of this game soon, I promise!"

"There is one other possibility, then," Eulsam said. "No… two. First, that we have gone in and out of the game, and only by being in the game some thirteen years from now, we have lost our memories. That is still not favorable. The other possibility is that this Sachui is not real, but a figment of the game's design, similar to the doubles you have had to face."

"I'm real!" Sachui insisted, stomping her foot on the ground. "I swear, I'm real. From my perspective, the rationality is that you aren't the real ones. That you're just very clever programming based on pre-recorded instances within the game world. That's what I've believe for a long time now, anyways."

"How long is… a long time?" Kirito asked.

Sachui went silent. "I… am not sure how much I can tell you, or else I will cause a scenario in which your memories get wiped, and I don't want that to happen."

"Nonsense," Eulsam said. "Changing something in the present would not give the game a reason to alter our memories in such a way."

"This is the past from my perspective. It would alter your memories in my preset. I don't want that to happen."

"If you're really Yuichi-chan," Asuna started questioning her. "Then tell us something only Yuichi would know."

"If I have my timelines correct," Sachui said, thinking about the scenario. "Then I have barely begun talking yet. There is nothing I could tell you to prove I'm me, because I have almost no memory of such an age."

"Where did you get these?" Kirito asked, looking at the two Elucidators.

"You gave them to me when I reached level one-hundred. It was also my tenth birthday present," Yuichi said. "Oh, I will need those back. The Elucidators from this timeline are still around somewhere, and having multiples from the same timeline could spawn a paradox, which I don't feel like fighting today."

"A paradox?" Eulsam asked. "Why are you here?"

Sachui smiled, her excitement returning again. "Yes!" she said. "Why I'm here. If I am here, at this point in time, then that means I have arrived at a point that I have been waiting to reach for a long long time! This is… the Greatest Story Ever Told!" The three others looked on in confusion. "Well that's just what I call it. I wasn't sure this was even a real story, actually. Being here it makes me kind of happy."

"If you don't mind me asking," Eulsam said. "What level are you, how old are you, and from how far ahead in the future are you?"

Sachui blinked. "I can tell you that I am level two hundred and forty-two. But as to my age, I cannot tell, because doing so could generate a paradox."

"What are these paradoxes you keep talking about?" Kirito asked as he handed the blades back to his future daughter.

"Whenever I screw something up… reveal a piece of the future someone is not meant to know, or allow objects from different points in the same timeline to get mixed up, a creature spawns called a paradox. I haven't beaten one yet, they're very dangerous."

"I would sincerely hate to run into something that you can't defeat in combat," Asuna said. "So… what do we do next? If… if that's not going to summon one of those monsters…"

Sachui thought about it for a moment. "I don't quite remember, you didn't tell me a whole lot about the little details. The next part of the story… oh! We need to go to a town called Iceberg."

"So back to what we were already doing?" Kirito asked as he started to head for a Red Hand weapons cache to retrieve his items.

"Seems like it," Eulsam said. "Everyone else should already be headed there. I'm still not sure how this time travel thing works out."

"You'll be best off if you just don't worry about it, Uncle Sam."

Eulsam stopped in his tracks and shook his head. "Don't call me that."

Sachui giggled and nodded. "Right, you always hated that nickname." The girl opened her player menu and summoned up a mount. The players gawked at it, a large bird, with a massive wingspan.

"Yuichi…" Kirito looked on at the avian after getting his weapons and items back. It was mostly white, but had vibrant yellows and oranges mixed into its plumage. "What is that?"

"A phoenix," Sachui told him. "I would love to tell you the story behind this thing, but again… paradoxes are not fun." She climbed up onto the bird's back. "Come on, let's go!" The giant bird flapped its wings and lifted itself up into the air.

The other three all mounted up on their pegasi, and flew up with her, following her lead.

* * *

><p>"Kirito…" the voice of the Dragon Swordsman spoke. "Looks like you won't be as ready for me this time." The false Kirito flew on his wings towards the group of four. When he started to get closer, he spotted the massive, winged bird, and slowed down his approach. "What… is that?"<p>

He picked up speed, and drew his two swords, preparing to fight. "I don't see Leafa," he said to himself. "No healing this time. You're mine."

The dragon ripped through the party, crashing through Asuna first. He struck at her horse, and with his tail, he pulled her up off of the mount, and carried her through the air. "Asuna!" Kirito shouted as the dragon tore through the group. He pulled out his Elucidators, and turned his horse to follow the dragon. Asuna's own mount fell to the ground, dead.

The phoenix stopped, and turned back to chase the false Kirito as well, and Eulsam wasn't far behind. Kirito was the first to engage. Once he caught up to his double, he jumped from his horse and onto the dragon's back. The false Kirito was taken off-guard, and he barreled into the ground. The three of them—Kirito, his doppelganger, and Asuna—tumbled across the ground.

The false Kirito was the first to his feet, and he charged for his attacker, swords drawn. "Blade Dancer's Fury!" he shouted out as he approached. Kirito quickly answer with his own special ability to match, and their swords clashed and clanged against one another. The Elucidators couldn't break the dragon swords, and the hammering was starting to wear on them. Asuna jumped into combat, charging in with a spear thrust and with her Valkyrie already activated.

The fake Kirito jumped back. "Dragon's Fury!" he shouted out. His wings turned to burning arms, and he drew his own set of Elucidators. Asuna put her spear away, and drew her sword. She went into her lightning swiftness, and jumped around the dragon as crackling thunder. Eulsam charged in next, using his dual blades. Now overwhelmed, the false Kirito threw himself into a whirlwind. The swords clashed against the heroes, and knocked them out of the assault, and then his tail swung around and knocked them all away, just as his two furies expired.

"Now I'll show you the real power of the Dragon Swordsman!" he shouted. His body began to contort, and change shape. His whole body turned further to his dragon side, with a large snout, heavy torso, and long, snake-like body. He still held onto both of his main weapons, his hands retaining a more human shape. "Dragon's Fire!" he shouted out, extending his head and blasting the three players with intense flames.

Asuna moved forward, her Valkyrie still active, and held her shield up which blocked most of the damage. Yuichi was calm. She dismounted and walked towards the fake Kirito, and drew her Elucidators. Her steady walk turned quickly into a run, and she charged towards the fire-breather. Both of her weapons pointed behind her, and when she approached, she jumped up high, and landed on the dragon's backside to deal a powerful blow against him.

The dragon choked and was thrown forward and into the ground. He tumbled along, past the group of three players, and then got up to look at his enemy. On one blow, his health was down to eighty-five percent. "Who… are you?" he asked.

"Kirigaya Yuichi," Sachui stated.

"Yuich—" he was interrupted by the three others, he resumed their assault. Asuna's spear was planted into his chest, and Kirito and Eulsam were starting to slash away with their swords. The doppelganger picked up his defenses quickly, using tail and wings and sword to counter all of their attacks. Another tail swipe knocked those two back, and as Asuna jumped in to attack, he met her sword with both of his, and threw her into the ground. Now he sat at eighty-one percent. "I don't know what game you're playing," the dragon spoke, still in his large, pseudo-dragon form. But play time's over, little girl!" He picked himself up with his wings, and flew towards her.

Sachui activated her Valkyrie state, and flew at the dragon with her own set of lighted wings. She screamed as she rushed him. While she flew, she swung both of those blades through the air, and struck the dragon with bolts of lightning. The false Kirito steered off course to avoid incoming bolts, and flew up towards the air.

"Dragon's Fire!" Another stream of flames came down, hitting Sachui. She was kick though, to drop her Elucidators, and pull out a shield-like weapon—a tri-blade like Michiko. The weapon took the brunt of the damage, and after the flames died down, she flew towards the dragon again. The three others looked on, and watched. The fight had taken to the skies, and they couldn't follow without risking their pegasi.

"Blade Dancer's Fury!" Sachui shouted. The tri-blade crackled with intense lightning, and as she flew through the sky, she flung it at the dragon. When the false Kirito saw it coming, and tried to dodge, the weapon hit his more sensitive, leathery wings, cutting him from the sky.

Without air power, he fell towards the ground. "Bitch!" he shouted at her, but it was a waste of his breath. She didn't let him go easy. She pulled two swords from her skirt, and threw them down at him, hitting him again. Finally, she redrew her Elucidators, and plowed into him, blades first. They hit the ground with a loud crash, kicking up dust.

Coming out of it, the false Kirito's health was standing at fifty percent, and Sachui's at ninety-eight. He thrashed, throwing Sachui away. Her Valkyrie wore off, but her fury was still active, and she rushed him head on. He moved to block her incoming attacks, but was suddenly stricken by the dozen or so blades of the girl's skirt as she spun around and into him. The continuous strikes knocked Wrath and Ruin, his two blades away, and he turned to run to retrieve one of them.

Now bound to the ground, Kirito, Asuna and Eulsam were back in the fight. They also moved to charge after the dragon. As they attacked him, he pulled his own Elucidators out to defend himself. His wings were mangled, and he couldn't use them to fight, so by number of swords, he was outmatched, and couldn't block all of their shots. He spun into another whirlwind, knocking them back again with his tail.

Sachui jumped at him, this time wielding a new weapon. It was like a long chain, and at the end of it, a large blade, like the blade of a scythe, was attached. The chain wrapped around the false Kirito, and once he was tangled up, she let go, and drew a shield and spear. Her fury had ended early, so she wouldn't have to catch her breath, and she threw the spear into him, hitting him and dealing lots of damage. Then, she leapt at him, drawing an Elucidator and cracking the dragon across the face.

The false Kirito was now fast approaching death. He transformed back into his human self to escape the chains, and picked up Wrath as he back away from the four players now approaching him. "Impossible," he said, looking at the girl. "Your level is higher than mine. You… you can't be you!"

"Paladin… Mode!" Sachui began to glow with light, and she charged in on the false Kirito. On the way in, she threw her shield, and it knocked him down. As he got back up, she drew her second Elucidator, and leaped into a charge. He swung his weapons at her, but they bounced off, and she plunged both of the blades into his chest.

He stumbled back, and then fell to the ground, his health dropping to zero. Sachui deactivated Paladin, and smiled down at her slain enemy.

"That was amazing," Kirito said. "I would expect nothing less of you. I'm convinced, you are my real daughter. I don't know how, but you're really Yuichi."

"Mama," Sachui said. "You can ride with me, since you lost your horse. Phoenix cannot die."

"Hai!" Asuna said. She put away her weapons.

"Wait," Eulsam said. "This isn't over."

The false Kirito's body lifted from the ground, a glowing figure of red light. His wings emerged, fully healed and flung out to either side as he was fully revived. He looked on at the group, and then turned to fly away, fleeing the battle.

Eulsam was running after him, and starting to call his mount from his menu. Sachui held a hand up and stopped him in his tracks. "No," she said. "Now is not the time for the mad dragon to die. If we chased him now, we would never catch him. Besides, the only thing that can chase down a dragon is a phoenix, and if I were to fight him again now, it would spawn a paradox."

Eulsam looked at her, and nodded. "Fine," he said. "It seems like a waste though. You could kill him easily, and it'd save us a whole lot of trouble."

"I could," Sachui said. "I could kill him, and tell you all of the secrets you need to know to end the game right now. I could give you items to resurrect dead players a million times. But the cost of doing so would be far too great. It would save you now, but destroy you all later. A time will come for you confrontation with your enemies, but it is not today." After that, she summoned her phoenix, and helped her mother onto its back before climbing up herself.

Eulsam and Kirito mounted up. "Did you know that was coming?" Eulsam asked her.

Sachui nodded. "I knew."

"You can't tell us what else will happen along the way, can you?"

She shook her head, and then flew off. The other two followed her.

* * *

><p>When the huge bird arrived in Iceberg, players looked on in awe. The event with the dragons was still fresh in their minds, and there was some unease among players there. "Kirito! Eulsam!" Lisbeth shouted out as she ran up to the new arrivals. Then she stopped in her tracks. "A-Asuna?" Then she looked to the other player, Sachui. "Sachui… who are you? Asuna, why are you back here?"<p>

Asuna sighed, and waved her hand dismissively as she walked past Lisbeth. "I don't want to talk about it."

Sachui ran up to hug Lisbeth. Lisbeth was surprised by the affection, and blinked in confusion. "Uh… I don't think I know you."

"Not yet," Sachui said. "Someday though…" The girl blinked and moved back from Lisbeth. She looked her up and down. "Lisbeth, where is your bladeskirt?"

"Bladeskirt?" Lisbeth asked. "What is a bladeskirt?"

"Oh wait, this is when I tell you about it!" Sachui exclaimed. "History in the making, I love it…" She twirled around a little bit, showing off her dress. "This is a bladeskirt. You invented it! And it's basically an armored skirt with swords added into it. When you spin around like this, the blades push outward, and they keep unwanted perverts and monsters away… or at least give them some seriously ill-placed cuts."

Lisbeth looked on at the piece of armor. "That's— I invented— what?"

Sachui took hold of Lisbeth's hand, and bowed graciously before her. "Kirigaya Yuichi," she said. "I'm from the future!"

"What?" Lisbeth asked, jumping back at that. "That's not possible. What's going on?" She looked to Kirito and at Asuna, who had stopped a few feet past her to wait for the rest of the group.

"The game has used a top-notch prediction software in conjunction with the Sands of Time to create the illusion that we are being visited by a hero from the distant future," Eulsam said. "This is the conclusion I have come to."

Kirito shook his head. "That's the rationale, maybe, but I believe her."

Lisbeth turned to Asuna, who merely shrugged.

* * *

><p>The group had all met up with each other, and sat around tables at a town restaurant. Leafa, Sinon and Klein had all met up with them as well, and they all enjoyed a meal, and shared stories. "So," Klein said, looking to Asuna. "Are we going to hear your story, now?"<p>

Asuna looked at him. "My story?" she asked. "You mean why I've decided to come back to the game?"

"The reasons why mother decided to rejoin the game are her own," Sachui spoke up. "It doesn't matter why she did it, she's here now."

"It's fine," Asuna said to her. "I did it to save Kirito."

"And she succeeded," Kirito said. "I'm here."

"Only thanks to her," Eulsam pointed at Sachui. "The walking enigma over there says she's level two-forty-two."

"Two-forty-two?" Klein asked. "That's incredible. You could probably take on a whole army of players like us. Okay, since we can't here Asuna's story, how'bout your story, Sachui?"

"Please," she said. "You can call me by my real name."

Klein shook his head. "It's a form of respect to call a player by their in-game name. If you're from the future, how did you get here?"

"The Sands of Time," Sachui said. "In the future, the Sands of Time get scattered across the whole of virtual space, and they open up portals into the past. The portals can only be accessed by the person who was meant to use them. If I can go in and finish the scenario in store for me, I can close that portal down, and I get some kind of in-game reward. But the biggest payoff of completing the time portal scenarios is the information I gather from going back in time."

"I thought you couldn't tell us any of this," Eulsam said. He was ever-skeptical, and in truth, almost everyone at the table was. "Won't it summon one of those big scary paradoxes?"

"When I was a little girl," Sachui explained. "My papa told me stories about his adventures in Sword Art Online, and in Vearth. I was always fascinated by the fantastical tales of heroism, grand quests against the forces of evil. The first time I heard this story, I was only five, and it was the night after the first time I was allowed to play around in the game world."

"I see," Kirito said. "I need to be paying attention then, so I know what parts I can tell you, and what parts you'll have to discover for yourself. You couldn't tell us how and why you came back in time because I had told you that this was when you explained it all. If you told us sooner—"

"Hai," Sachui said. "It would have created a paradox, or at least it would have had the potential to create one."

"Still not buying it," Eulsam said.

"Sachui," Lisbeth spoke next. "What's it like… in the future?"

"There's no flying cars," Sachui said with a giggled. "But things are cool, for the most part. I can tell you one major thing about the future, and that's that the lines between the real world and the virtual one have all but vanished."

"Interesting… any embarrassing stories about your parents?" Lisbeth started to prod her form more information.

She shook her head, and laughed a little. "No, most of the stories about us are the ones they embarrass me with."

"You described these time portal events as… scenarios. That implies that they have a defined start and end point," Asuna said. "What's the end point of this one?"

"I'm not sure exactly," Sachui said. "I only know what happens in this story because you and papa told me this story a lot when I was a little girl. It always used to be my favorite. I imagine there's a lot of details that you would have left out, and that would be the stuff that I would have to fill in myself when I got here."

"Do you have any clue what you're supposed to do here?" Leafa asked.

Sachui nodded. "Yes. I have fulfilled two of my missions now. First… to rescue my father, and save the three of them from the Red Hand. Second, to wipe out the mad dragon's first life. There's two more primary objectives I must complete. One I cannot reveal until the end, but the other is that I need to find a player named… GothGod, the Black Prophet and Herald of the Death Oath. From him I must retrieve the Sands of Time. Doing that is the key to opening up portals through time and allowing me to come back here in the first place. If I fail any of these objectives… my memories will be erased and rewritten, and I will have no chance of succeeding in my own mission, in my own time."

Kirito sat looked at her. "That's a steep cost," he said. "That means something happens in the future and the stakes are just as real as they are today."

"It's much worse," Sachui said. "It's different, and it's better in a lot of ways, but it's also a lot worse in a lot of ways too. I can't give you the details about this. What I can tell you is that I also cannot die here. If I die while I am playing a time travel scenario, I will be subject to the same fate as if I died playing in that place in time. If I were to travel back to SAO, for example, and died there, my mind would be reprogrammed to process electrical signals a million times faster than it can handle, and melt my brain inside of my head, simulating the effects of microwaves being shot into my brain. If I die here, I will become a ghost for fifteen days, and if I cannot be revived, my consciousness will be lost forever. If I went into Gun Gale Online during the Death Gun incident, and I was shot with that gun, my mind would force my body to have a fatal heart attack."

"Sounds pretty desperate," Asuna said. "Why would you go into those scenarios at all, knowing that?"

"The same reason you came back to the game… love."

"In your time, you're working to save someone you love," Kirito said. "I couldn't blame you for that. I'm losing track of how many times I've risked my life to save Asuna. As your father, I fear for your life, but I also want you to be able to fight your own battles as I have." At that moment, Kirito realized something, and looked to Asuna. "And I'm sorry, Asuna, for forcing you out of the game. I should have let you make that decision." Asuna looked back at him, and smiled.

"What's this about Kirito and Asuna's daughter coming back from the future?" Michiko asked as she walked in on the group. Everyone greeted her, and her two friends, Xaela and Doc, as they came in with her.

* * *

><p>After another hour of chitchat and catching up, the group moved on to more serious discussion. "Alright," Sachui said. "Now that we're all settled in, let's get to our new objective."<p>

"Alright, time traveler," Doc said. "What are we up to next?"

"The Sands of Time are currently in possession by GothGod. As you know," she said. "The Sands of Time are a legendary item, so even if an administrators summons them in, there can only be one instance of the object at any given time. The Yellow Wizard would have kept it safe from enemy hands, but since the Black Prophet became an admin, and summoned them, he called forth that same instance of the item. He can do so again, so simply taking the Sands of Time from him will not do. The Sands of Time are unique however, in that it can never break its own directed coding. When we retrieve them, I will send them several years into the future, and then not even an administrator will be able to conjure the item until they reappear."

"So we find GothGod, kill him, and take the Sands of Time," Eulsam said. "Even at your level, Sachui, he has administrator privileges. It will not be an easy battle. We don't even know where he is."

"Then let's take things one step at a time," Kirito said. "First, we find him."

"That won't be necessary," Sachui said. The group looked at her. "The Black Prophet will come to us, here in Iceberg."

"We need to alert the town!" Michiko said, getting up.

"Well I mean to say, he's on his way to meet us in Iceberg," Sachui said. "That is the one clue I can give you about the coming battle. We will meet him before he arrives, but first… something else needs to happen." Sachui looked directly at Lisbeth.

She stood up. "Hai!" she said. "We have finished production of Mithril armor for our core group. We'll need to make more to arm other players, but with Mithril, we should perform quite well in the battle against GothGod." Lisbeth pulled a piled of silky clothing, all glowing faintly with a blue light. She tossed pieces of it out to her friends, and they all looked at the material. "Sorry, Sachui. I didn't anticipate you at all, so I didn't make you any, and unfortunately… I don't have any for Asuna either, since I thought she would be gone."

"I'll be fine, Lisbeth," she said. "My armor is mixed of Mithril, Titanium and Black Adamantine. It is even better than what you can get at this point. My weapons can even cut Mithril, and even the Elucidators I possess have been re-forged with a higher tier of metal than Silver Steel."

"Asuna should stay back," Kirito said. "It could be dangerous."

"Papa," Sachui said, turning to Kirito. "Mother can fight. I have seen the future, and you both make it out of this alive, I promise!"

"Can you promise me that she will not get hurt though?"

"Kirito," Asuna said. "Have you already forgotten that you can't make up my mind for me? I'm going to fight with you."

Kirito sighed, and nodded. "Alright, then," he said. "I won't try to stop you. But please, be careful."

"Alright," Eulsam said. "We'll need a working strategy to fight him. Every time we've run into him, he's used a variety of spells to keep us from attacking. He has shields, entanglements, and knockback effects galore. Getting past those will be troublesome."

"And it never seems to matter if we attack all at once or in turn," Klein said. "If only one of us attacks, he uses those rock spires to throw us away. If many strike at once, he forms a shield. And those rock spires can turn into a short range attack that goes three hundred and sixty degrees."

"If any of us become particularly troublesome," Sampson said. "He summons skeletal arms to grapple our feet. It delays us just long enough for him to focus on the remaining party members."

"Those rock spires he uses," Eulsam said. "They're attached to wide arm or weapon movements. If we can keep his hands busy, he probably won't be able to use them. His spells are cast either by speaking, or by tapping his staff to the ground. We should be able to predict when his attacks and defenses come based on that."

"If we can get enough blades to constantly push at him, we'll tie up his sword. For his shield, we should use our most powerful ranged attacks to bring it down quickly." Kirito took a sip of his drink. "After his shield breaks, his defenses will be vulnerable to more ranged attacks. Sinon, hold your fire until his shield breaks."

"Every time I shoot at him, even with my special abilities, he vanishes before the arrows hit. I might be able to hit him if I strike from behind, and he doesn't see my attacks coming."

"I can hold his attention," Lisbeth said. "With my dexterity, shield and extra limbs, I should be able to survive the brunt of his blows."

"I have yet to engage GothGod in combat," Sachui said. "I won't do much to help until I see him fight a little first. But I'm confident that I'll have stats and weapons over his head. It will only take me a few seconds to figure out how to fight him, and so that's all you'll need to survive for. Lisbeth and I should actually swap back and forth trying to tank him, using Paladin mode to absorb damage."

"We're forgetting something very important," Kirito said. The group looked at him. "His entourage of Death Oath."

"We killed them," Michiko said. "They won't be coming."

"Actually," Klein said. "When we fought them, they were ghosts. Only Asuna could hurt them with divine attacks."

"We have three players capable of dealing divine-type damage," Eulsam said. "Asuna, Lisbeth and Sachui. Sachui… all three of you… instead of fighting GothGod, you should focus on taking out the Death Oath."

"Then we won't have a tank—"

"Have you already forgotten me, Kirito?" Eulsam asked. "I will switch to a defensive style and hold the Black Prophet's attention. The rest of you will focus all of your efforts on hitting him."

"The Death Oath are of no concern to us," Sachui said. "I will kill GothGod, and the ghosts will run away like cowards. I will not take my attention from him to combat a bunch of distractions."

"Do you suffer from tunnel vision?" Eulsam asked sarcastically.

Sachui stood up, and started walking towards the door. "I am nearly a hundred levels higher than you. I have more experience playing this game, and I am more than capable of going toe-to-toe with GothGod. This is my mission, and I will fight him."

"Sachui," Eulsam said. "I am the strategist of this group. My plans rarely fail, and despite your high level, you cannot expect to go up against someone who has system commands on their side, and win in a fair fight, one-on-one."

"You don't believe in me," Sachui said, looking back at him. "You doubt that I am even real, as I feel many of you do. I can accept that, but at least believe in my ability to conquer my own enemies."

"GothGod is everyone's enemy," Sampson said. "It's not a matter of believing in you, it's a matter of you believing in us. We're in this together."

"Take it from me, Yuichi," Kirito said. "Flying solo… it seems like the way to go, especially when you outmatch so many others, but in the long run, you'll always find yourself in need of a team, and you'll always find that one enemy who is stronger than you."

Sachui sighed, and nodded to her father's advice. "Fine," she said. "I'll go along with your plan. I don't like taking a back seat in the battle against GothGod though."

"Once the ghosts have been dealt with," Eulsam said. "I will need you three to replace me, as I cannot say how long I will last against him on my own. It's not a back seat, it is a delayed engagement. Wait for the right time to come, and then strike with all your might." He thought about it for a moment, and then narrowed his gaze at Sachui. "Besides… you should already know how this fight goes."

"When a child hears stories from their parent, they are never told with the greatest precision of truth. Things are warped by memory, or fabricated to make a story more exciting. I have heard many versions of how this fight should go. Part of playing through it is to learn as I go what really happens in this story."

"Then follow my lead," Eulsam said as he got up, and started out the door after her. "You can promise your parents will live and that GothGod will fall. I can promise that we will succeed in this mission—your mission. You ask me to believe in you… I must ask you to believe in me, first." He extended his hand to her, and she took his hand back. They shook on it.

"Good," Kirito said as he got up. The rest of the group was getting ready to go. "Everyone's getting along. Now let's go get this guy…"

* * *

><p>The group walked through the snow and ash away from Iceberg, and suddenly they stopped as they saw a single cloaked figure on the approach. The Black Prophet had his staff, as always, and wore a plague mask that hid his face.<p>

Eulsam had a large shield, and a heavy sword out. He held the sword out and pointed it at the player they were approaching. "GothGod!" he shouted. "You will answer for your crimes against the players of this game! Prepare now, to face justice!"

"Justice?" the man spoke in whispers. "Is not justice for God to decide? Am I not God in this world? Should justice not be under my discretion?"

All around the group, ghostly figures approached, stepping through the snow. The players drew weapons, and each prepared to defend against a coming attack. "You are no God," Eulsam shouted back. "You are a monster, and like any other monster, we will deliver you unto your fate." Eulsam charged forward to fight. GothGod drew his jade sword.

Asuna and Sachui both activated their Valkyrie states, and Lisbeth went into Paladin mode. The three of them fanned out and attacked the ghost, while the rest of the players charged forward to engage GothGod. The ghosts were tough, even for Sachui's high damage attacks. She immediately shot lightning bolts at the ghosts, getting six hits in all, and then drove through a few of them with a whirlwind. Lisbeth launched a divine fireball at a cluster of them, and then flew in to attack, swinging around, fearless and invincible. Asuna went in as Sachui. Hurling bolts of lightning, but once her three bolts were shot off, she went to melee the ghosts, attacking and blocking with shield and sword.

Eulsam leapt over GothGod, and the Black Prophet teleported directly in front of him. He knocked his shield to the side with a swing of his staff, and then went to chop with his large sword. Eulsam had no trouble deflecting the attack. As the two fought, Sampson and Kirito went in from behind. GothGod felt them coming, and blocked an incoming attack by Eulsam with his staff, and then whirled around with his sword, knocking the two of them back with a shockwave.

Leafa got right to healing, bringing Kirito and Sampson back to full health. Silica went in next, and ran into a shield barrier. Once it went off, Leafa switched from healing to hurling a high damage spell at the shield. It burst, and then Klein rushed in with a Quickdraw attack, surfacing a little damage, and Sinon fired off a series of four hours. The first arrow hit, and then GothGod vanished.

He reappeared behind Sinon, and swung his sword at her, dealing more than half her health in damage, and knocking her down, screaming in pain. Eulsam ran up to stop the next attack, as the Black Prophet beat him to it, swinging his sword down on Sinon. Just before the blade struck, GothGod vanished and was behind Eulsam, delivering a heavy strike to his back and knocking him down a fair way as well.

Kirito leapt forward to attack, and GothGod tapped his staff to the ground, sending out a shockwave that pushed him back away. Sampson raised his heavy axe to strike from behind, and the enemy again vanished.

Sachui thrust a blade into one of the ghost's chest, finishing it off, and then swung through another's head. They were started to drop fast. Lisbeth was doing almost as much damage as Sachui, since with her Paladin ability, she didn't need to worry about getting hit. She sliced up through a ghost, and it collapsed in on itself. Another two rushed her, and she whirled around, slamming them with her tail. Even then, with her class, it counted as a divine attack, and dealt them serious damage.

Asuna was holding off a trio of the ghosts when GothGod appeared next to her. The ghosts that were attacking her fled and instead went to fight off the other players that were attacking the Black Prophet. "Asuna," he said. "I was so happy to see that you came back to the game. I was planning on what I would offer when next we met." Asuna swung at him, and he blocked the sword with his staff. The next blow was from her shield, and he jumped back out of the way as she moved towards him. "Here's my offer," he said. "You come with me, let me kill you how I see fit instead of striking you down in combat like this… if you do, I will log out any… two players of your choice."

Asuna stopped her attack, and looked at him. Was he serious? Was she seriously considering this? A guaranteed safety for two friends. And she already knew who she would use it on. "Liar…" she said.

"Ahh, so I have your attention at least." Kirito and Eulsam had caught up to him. Eulsam charged up first, with a shield and spear in hand, and tried to thrust that spear into him. The barrier had returned, and Eulsam was pushed back. Kirito jumped over his head, and whipped around to swing his blades. GothGod turned to Kirito, blocking one attack with his staff, and knocking the other away with his sword. Then, he muttered a spell, and Kirito's legs were bound by creeping skeletal hands. "I know Kirito would be one," he said. "But the other?"

"None of your business!" she shouted as she moved in to continue her attack. "I couldn't seriously consider an offer like that anyways."

"But you were thinking about it!"

Sachui performed another whirlwind, and with that, many of the ghosts faltered. She looked to GothGod talking to Asuna, and she narrowed her gaze at them before charging up. "Sinon!" she said. "I need supporting fire!"

Sinon, who was healed up by now, looked over, and nodded. She fired arrows, not aiming for GothGod but aiming around him to limit his movements. GothGod looked over at her, and stopped moving back from Asuna's attacks. He had to hold still to defend against her, which was difficult.

"Force him back!" Sachui shouted next.

Asuna heard, and she pushed forward into GothGod, shield first, with all of her might. The Black Prophet was forced to take a step back, and he teleported from his spot before an arrow hit him.

Sachui readied both of her swords, and leapt for her father, who was getting up from the earlier knockback. As predicted, GothGod reappeared behind Kirito, but before he could make his move, Sachui tackled him to the ground, and plunged two Elucidators into his chest.

GothGod screamed out, and vanished again in a cloud of smoke, and a spray of blood. The swords went with him though, and when he reappeared, he fell to his knees, and dropped both weapons to pull the blades out.

"Mama!" Sachui shouted. "Now's your chance, he's not moving!"

Asuna turned around at the order, and noticed this. She still had some time in her Valkyrie state, and her spear started to crackle with lightning. She threw it at GothGod, and it tore into his chest. He vanished again, but reappeared farther away from combat, and fell to his back this time. He went to pull the spear out, but it zapped him with electricity. His health was getting lower now.

Michiko saw all of this, and saw her chance to deliver another strike. She crouched low, and whirled around, hurling her weapon at GothGod, and hitting him in the head. Unfortunately, it barely hit him, slicing through his left ear.

GothGod cast a quick spell to force those weapons from his body, but it was too little, too late. Sachui, still in Valkyrie flew up and at him, and charged down with a lightning spear, burying it in the villain's face, and dealing a nearly fatal, and breaking through his plague mask. She pulled the spear back, and pulled GothGod up by the throat, and flew up into the air. He was dazed from the head shot.

"Now," she said. "You listen to me, and listen good! I'm about to tell you something that's going to be so lodged into that thick skull of yours that you'll never forget it!" Sachui held him up high in the air. "Stay away from my mother…" She threw him back to the ground with all of her strength, and then charged into him with that spear just one more time. He was dead before he hit the ground, and the impact when his body did hit the ground caused a fine cloud of blood, snow and ash to blow up around him.

After that, she pulled the spear, and put it back into her inventory. As predicted, the remaining ghosts all fled, vanishing into thin air. With GothGod dead, Sachui looted the Sands of Time from him, and pulled them out before her.

"Is this the end, then?" Kirito asked as he walked up to her.

Sachui shook her head. She spoke a strange spell on the item, and it vanished. Once it was done, she turned back to Kirito. "No papa," she said. "Not quite yet. There's still one more thing I have to see before I leave."

"What is it?" Asuna asked her.

Sachui smirked, and started to walk away from the scene of the battle.

"With GothGod dead," Eulsam said. "The IVRTF should be able to hack the game now, and log everyone out."

Sachui sighed, and shook her head. "Sadly, GothGod still has system commands. Even as a ghost. He has likely already used them to re-spawn himself somewhere far from here. I will tell you before I leave what path you must take next to truly defeat him. But in case his ghost remains here, I will tell you this later… in a way I know he cannot hear me. But before that… let us celebrate!"

"Party at Iceberg?" Klein asked.

Sachui shook her, head and smiled at the group.

* * *

><p>The Darkwood had been completely destroyed, crushed by a massive, falling piece of another game. A good chunk of Fallen Aincrad now lied in its place, and a group of pegasi, led on by a phoenix flew up its side, and into one of its many floors.<p>

Once they crossed into Aincrad, the world outside of it vanished, and they were completely encompassed by the world of Sword Art Online, once again. The sun shined through beautiful, picturesque clouds, and the wind made the trees and the waters shimmer. "Yuichi-chan," Asuna said as she rode along with her daughter. "Is this what I think it is?" She looked out forest and lakes.

"Yes," Sachui said to her. They came down next to a log cabin in the woods, and dismounted there. After walking inside, Sachui jumped onto one of the couches, and relaxed, letting out a long sigh.

"So this is the home in Aincrad you always talked about," Eulsam said to Asuna as the rest of the group entered. Kirito and his core group that used to play in Alfheim and New Aincrad together were right at him, and went in to take it all in.

"Hai," Asuna said to Eulsam as she walked right in, and looked around. "Sachui, you seem right at home here… just as much as we do."

Sachui nodded. "Not only do I spend a lot of time with you guys in the game here growing up, but we have a second home we share with all of our friends and family that's designed just like this… with a few additional rooms, anyways. But it's just about exactly the same. We used to sit around the fireplace and share a dinner, and talk about all of the fun we've had in the games, and in the real world."

"Used to?" Kirito asked. It was odd, he thought, that she would say 'used to' in this case. For them, it had been more than three and a half years, but she's been here less than half a month. Was she trapped in a game in the distant future as well?

Sachui sighed, and nodded. "It got old. We sold it, and you were building a new one. It's not finished yet, but it's not going to be the same anyways. The design and the layout are all new. I have a lot of nostalgia for this room. Considering the time difference… I have actually spent more time in here than you have, at this point."

Kirito sat down next to her, and she leaned against him, feeling as comfortable as ever. "Are we good parents… in the future?"

"Of course!" Sachui said. "The best. I'll always love you. I mean… every parent has their faults, but we're all happy together, and I have a great childhood."

Asuna sat down on the other side of Sachui. "Even after we're missing through most of your early childhood?"

"Please don't worry about that," she said. "I barely remember those years."

"Just before I came back into the game," Asuna said. "I got to see you. I heard your first words and fed you sushi. You were adorable, and I already miss you." Sachui groaned and buried her face into the couch. "Oh," Asuna said with a giggle. "Is that one of the embarrassing stories we always tell people?" Kirito chuckled at that.

The rest of the players moved onto the back patio, and were looking out at the sky. It was a change of pace to see this different world in the middle of all of their hardships. Asuna left the couch, and went to the kitchen to start cooking up some food for everyone. It didn't take long, of course, being a game, and moments later, she called everyone in for food.

After dinner, they all decided to go from the cabin to one of the lakes. The sun was starting to go down, and they made a fire pit and had a good time for the first time in a long time. "Once this is over," Klein said to the group. "We'll have to throw a real party, a huge party!"

"I'm down for that," Eulsam said.

"I'll have to fly out to meet you guys," Xaela said next. "Anyone else not in Japan? I don't even speak Japanese."

"I'm in the US, but I've already decided to move there when I return. We're going to move in together," Sampson said, taking Lisbeth's hand and holding her close. She smiled, and rubbed her head against his muscular form.

"We should delay that party," Michiko said. "We can't possibly have one until we're all in the same place. And we'll have to go through physical therapy. My sister who played in Sword Art Online took months to be able to walk again."

"I have good news, then!" Asuna said. "Due to lots of advances in medicine, months is going be more like… days. I was back at home, albeit walking around with a cane, just a few days after waking up. We could probably have that party after just a month or two."

"We'll also need to spend some time with our friends and families," Silica said. "The ones who didn't come here with us."

Michiko looked down, and then she looked to Xaela, who seemed even more disheartened by who she wouldn't see when she awoke than Michiko. They weren't the only ones. Eulsam sighed, and shook his head, thinking only about the fact that there wouldn't be anyone there when he woke up, nor would he have anyone to go to meet afterwards.

"Xaela," Michiko said as she went over to her lover. "First chance I get, I'll make a trip to France to meet you in person, I promise." Xaela nodded, and the two hugged one another.

"Sachui," Kirito said, looking over to his daughter, who simply sat on a log, and smiled as she watched the group. "Should we start worrying about your next mission? How much longer do you have?"

Sachui got up, and walked over to the group, he skirt and hair swinging back and forth with each step. She passed Kirito and moved close to the whole group. "My next mission… well first, I can now happily tell you a lot more than I have previously, so I'll start with that!" She climbed up onto a small rock to continue speaking, so that she was standing over everyone, and had their attention. "When I was a little girl," she said. "My papa used to tell me fascinating stories about the times he had spent trapped in other worlds. It seemed like a fairy tale to me, and I never really imagined joining and taking part in those tales. You have questioned whether or not I am real, but to be truthfully, I have also doubted you all for the same reason. I have been on this journey quite a while, and traveled to many different time scenarios. I had always believed that what I was playing through was nothing more than remnants of old data files, but then… there was this story that my papa and mama told me growing up…

It was always my favorite when I was younger, but when I got older, I believed it less and less. I knew he was trapped here, in the game world. I had learned all about that, but time travel? Impossible. They never let me watch the recordings of the old show, not until I was twelve, and once I started, I watched them rather slowly. I already knew most of the stories from the tales I had heard, and so the show was so much less… exciting. And this one story, I already didn't believe it could be true. I mean… time travel? That's impossible. I went on believing it, and never made it beyond the first year when I watched.

You see, I was told the story of how when mama and papa were in great peril, a princess came to save the day, and rescued them from the forces of evil, and helped them defeat them for good. I was fascinated at first, but when I got older, I started to think that this was made up… some way to make me feel included in the tales of their fascinating stories… stories I would never experience for myself. I forgot about it, and simply filed it away in my mind as something to remind myself how much my parents loved me. A small gesture, really… I never ever imagined after that that it could be true.

But one day, I appeared, as I had many times before, in the world of Vearth. Just recorded data, I always thought. And for a while here, I still believed it was just that. Not time travel, but the illusion of it. And then, I got to meet my parents here. If I was in their stories, and I am here now, then what were the other possibilities? Eulsam mentioned high-tech prediction software more than once, and that remains a possibility. But the ways in which my experience here matched up so closely with the stories I was told as a little girl, I decided something else… something my father told me at a very young age…

Sometimes, it's more fulfilling to ignore rationality, and to just let yourself believe in something amazing.

Mama… papa. Thank you for believing me. If you hadn't, I wouldn't believe any of this. And it really is amazing. It's amazing to have had the fortune to grow up with such a wonderful family, but… I think I'm supposed to point out now a glaring flaw in the picture of our family…"

Sachui held up her left hand, and wiggled her ring finger slightly before stepping down from the rock she stood on. Kirito blinked. Fate herself was telling him to act, and he quickly went digging through his pockets, to find that personal item he had been holding on to for so long. Asuna took no time at all to figure out what was supposed to happen next. She simply smiled, and waited for him.

Kirito took a knee before her as he found that item. "Asuna," he said, looking up at her. "I was… I was preparing a big speech. But… but I think that'll do." He pointed to Sachui. The group, that was now watching the two of them, had a short laugh. "So I'll keep it short. Asuna, I love you with all of my heart, and I know that you have loved me back. We've been through good times and bad, and we've struggled. But after all is said and done, I know now more than ever that I belong with you, and I hope that you feel that you belong with me, too. Asuna… will you marry me?"

Asuna tried hard, but couldn't fight back the tears of joy. She held out her left hand, and let Kirito slip the finger onto her as she nodded her head. "Yes…" It was quiet at first, and Kirito rose up slowly to hug her.

"We can't hear you!" Klein shouted from the crowd.

Asuna laughed, and said it again, a little louder. "Yes!" The two embraced, and they shared a brief, but very passionate kiss.

* * *

><p>Kirito, Asuna and Yuichi all met together back in Vearth. They stood on the edge of a cliff where their daughter had brought them. She looked out, and took a deep breath. The ashen sky was rolling with a storm of thunder and lightning. "The end is coming," she said. "And soon. The final battle awaits all of the players, and now, I have one last thing to do before I can return home, and wake up on that hospital bed."<p>

"I thought getting us engaged was your last mission," Asuna said.

"That was a bonus objective," Yuichi said. She pointed out, towards the spot where the mountain at the center of Oasis Plateau once stood. "There…"

"What's there?" Kirito asked.

"An item called The Heart of the Earth. GothGod does not know about it. Unless GothGod is removed from the list of system administrators, he will never be beaten, and this game will go on forever. The Heart of the Earth… I can't tell you anything about it. But I can tell you that it's your next goal. Retrieve it, and you will be one step closer to ending this game."

"What's coming for us in the end of the game?" Asuna asked her.

Sachui shook her head, and sighed. "I cannot tell you," she said. "I wish I could warn you… I wish I could tell you all of the amazing stories you've told me, but I can't. You'll have to finish this adventure on your own. I want to tell you why I'm here as well, and to try and stop… the events that set into motion me coming here, but I cannot do it. Not even if it would solve all of my problems, because really… it would only just create more. Mama… papa… my time here is almost through. I will meet you again someday, and I will tell you all of the wonderful stories about my adventures."

"You wish you could stay, don't you?" Asuna asked. "Is it up to you? We could use you in our team."

She shook her head. "We can't always get what we want now, can we? As long as you hold my memory in your heart, nothing will come between us, no leap of time or space… not even death itself can tear us apart."

"We'll never forget you," Kirito said.

"This is important," Yuichi said. "If you forget everything else, just remember me. If you don't…" She stopped herself from talking, and shook her head. "I cannot say too much. Just remember to remember me."

"I don't follow," Kirito said. "What happens to us in the future?"

"I just realized how far I will have to go in my own time…" She shook her head again, and he form started to glow with light. "This is it," she said. She pulled her parents into a hug, and rested her head between the two of them. "I love you." A single tear fell from her eyes as the light faded from her core, and where it faded, she vanished. It went on until all that remained was her hand, holding onto her mother's cheek, and then it too was gone.

* * *

><p><em>The Distant Future<em>

"Papa…" a young girl said as she lied in her bed. She looked up at a much older Kirito with a smile. "Papa, tell me a bed time story."

Kirito nodded, and pulled a chair over to sit next to the young Yuichi. "What kind of story?" he asked her.

"One about your adventures!" she said with excitement.

"Alright," he said. "How about… the time when your mother saved my life? Have I told you that one before?"

She shook her head. "Papa," she said. "Can I be in your stories? I want to be a hero like you!"

Kirito stopped. "Well, that story would probably be better coming from your mom, so… I guess I can tell you the story about a time when Kito and Auna were trapped, and a young, beautiful princess came to rescue them." Yuichi's eyes lit up at that, and Kirito began to tell her the greatest story ever told.


	37. Chapter 37: The Flight of the Valkyrie

Ever since the shattering, Iceberg had come to stand as the player capitol. Since then, it had been built up, and fortified. The highest level players in the game had started to flock there, each with their own plans and their own history. They all had suffered great losses with the shattering and the mass mind control of Newberg that had followed. Post-shattering, The Red Hand took control of almost every explored zone, but not the Northern Mountains and not Iceberg.

They met there, and together they turned Iceberg into the most heavily guarded city in Vearth, a safe haven from the player-killers for anyone who wished to make their stay. It wasn't easy, not nearly as easy as when Newberg was under the command of the Veteran Protectors Guild, but it sufficed.

Of the 86,491 players who were determined to be trapped in the game, 6,872 had died before the shattering of Vearth, excluding Kirito, who was resurrected, as well as other lucky players who managed to gain a resurrection. When the shattering struck, another 10,417 players were killed. Of those killed, 6,899 were in Oasis Plateau when the volcano erupted—4,700 in Duneclimb and 890 in the Temple of Gaea, the rest scattered around the zone. 2,410 were killed by the destruction of terrain itself, thrown into chasms or crushed in rocks and other crumbling objects. 821, including the vast majority of the Black Wardens, met their end when they encountered monsters of an extremely high level that appeared as a result of the shattering. The last 287 died of starvation, exhaustion or suicide following the shattering.

Of the 69,292 players who were still alive after the shattering settled down, 64,004 were caught by the mass mind control spell, initiated by GothGod of the Death Oath, and of those, 63,102 remain under the effects of mind control. Of the 6,190 players in the game, 305 have died in various encounters, not including the undead members of Death Oath. Of the 5,885 players alive and free in the game, 3,855 belong to The Order of the Red Hand, including player slaves serving under them; at least 9 players belong to Death Oath, and another 82 to Laughing Coffin and various other player-killer guilds…

"And that leaves us with approximately 1,793 players, of which only 1,240 are active combatants… and of those, exactly 999 players are combat ready, and not currently involved in waging the revolution against the Red Hand." Eulsam finished reading the official report he had received from Pegasus. He was at the front of a room full of players. Kirito, Asuna, Michiko, Lisbeth, Xaela and Doc were among them. The rest of their groups waited elsewhere, as Eulsam needed to brief more players than just their own small group, many of which they hadn't yet met. "So that's it… 999 against about 65,000, most of which, we want to avoid killing."

"As players," another man said. He was large, and burly, and wore heavy armor. His hair was blonde and done in series of dreadlocks and braids. He looked like a Viking. "We have lost control of most of the world to player-killers. We're fighting a losing battle."

"Lisbeth," Kirito said. "How many dragons would we have under our command if we led an attack right now?"

"I just found number twenty-five yesterday. A lot of them have flown off pretty far, so we'll have to go farther if we want to find more of them."

"I say we gather our forces, and start aiding the revolution, and the Hand of Salvation," another player spoke out. "They could use our assistance, and gaining back the zones surrounding Newberg and the Ring Forest would be a big step in the fight against Death Oath."

"The Black Wardens could use more players on the main front," Michiko said. "We have been successful in bringing more players back, snapping them free of GothGod's control, but a majority of them are non-combatants, and don't join to help us rescue more of them."

"It's a wasted effort," the Viking of a player said. He was calm about his words. "You may be successful in saving players, but the more low level players we save, the more we end up having to protect, and the thinner we have to spread our own forces in their defense. Not to mention that the Northern Mountains are no place for low-levels. Most of the players you have brought back to us cannot help around the town in any meaningful way. They're dead weight."

"At least we're trying to rescue them," Xaela said, glaring at the man.

"The way I see it is that right now, they're safe. GothGod doesn't seem to be using them as soldiers yet, and the vast majority of them are barely active, doing only what is necessary to survive. They're better off where they are, rather than coming here and creating more work for us." The player pointed to the other who spoke up earlier. "He's right, we need to reclaim the shattered zones first. Once the Red Hand is vanquished, the revolutionaries can help us fight."

"Michiko," Eulsam said. "I'm going to have to side with him on this one… what's your name?" Eulsam looked at the man, and read his information.

"Klover," he said. "Commander General of the Arctic Army. We are three-hundred and fifty-two strong, the largest guild present here, considering the VPG has lost so many to the mind control."

"Before we make any decisions as to where able-bodied players should be fighting, we have a mission of our own, and we could use some help," Asuna said.

"A mission? Is that like a quest?" Klover asked.

"We have learned of a unique item that we need to collect, which will aid our fight against GothGod. We are weary of sharing too many details, but we are asking for some help from any healers, and any mages that can use water, ice, fire and earth spells."

"I won't spare a single soldier," Klover said, "…without knowing what this item is, and how it's going to help us."

"We won't share such information publicly," Kirito said.

"Then you're on your own," another player spoke up. Others in the room seemed to agree.

Eulsam cleared his throat. "Kirito, as you know, was the hero of Sword Art Online, the one who defeated Heathcliff and ended the game. I didn't like or trust him much at first either, but we can count on him to help end the game again. If Kirito and Asuna say it's important, I believe them."

"They haven't shared the details with you, either, have they?" Klover asked. Eulsam shook his head. "I won't trust them, I'm afraid. I don't know them except for rumors. The rumors I have heard are not good. I heard one that Kirito has, in recent times, attacked players without warning. I have heard that Asuna wasted a free logout which a multitude of other players would have been happy to have. Furthermore, I hear the two of them care more for the safety of one another than they do about the rest of the player base."

"There are two Kirito's," Kirito said. "The other me is not a real player, but a result of the effects of a spell cast by GothGod. He is from an alternate reality, and he is very dangerous. We have encountered him more than once. As for what you have to say about Asuna, and about us… I won't deny it. But you should also know that we've never put our own lives ahead of other players."

"I was there for one of those times," Klover said. "I answered Eulsam's call for the raid on Tartarus. It was before I had formed my guild, and I saw many players lay down their lives so that she could save you."

Asuna glared at him. "You knew the risks, just as everyone else did. Eulsam didn't ask you to come just to save Kirito. You came also to reap the benefits of the raid, and loot the bosses. In fact, I think I recognize that cloak you still wear today as the same cloak worn by one of the heroes we face fighting Persephone, in the Elysian Fields."

Klover smirked, and nodded. "That is correct, but doesn't it bug you at all that players died so you could save your baby-daddy? Regardless of the rationale and the reasons… I cannot send players with you on a blind quest. I am responsible for their safety, and I have no idea what you're getting into. I must also speak as a member of this council against anyone sending players to join you. With so little information given, it's not a risk that we should be taking. I move to restrict players who fall under our collective banners from joining Kirito and Asuna on their mission. Their close friends may go as they wish, but none of us, the leaders of the few remaining players fighting against the forces of evil, should be sending them troops."

Eulsam sighed, and nodded along. He made some good points, even if he thought Kirito and Asuna's mission was important. "All opposed?" Only Kirito and his close friends in the room raised a hand. "All in favor?" There was an overwhelming majority. "Sorry, Kirito. You're on your own for this one…"

Kirito sighed, and got up. He and Asuna moved to leave the room. "Michiko… Eulsam?" he asked before he left.

Michiko got up and went to leave the room as well. "Sorry, Kirito. If we're not going to get any extra help from this crowd, we're going to go back to Newberg and keep doing our best there."

"I… I'm afraid I have to stay here. My place has always been as a strategist, and a commander."

"Before you leave," Klover said. "I have another motion that I wish for you to cast a vote on. I think that, as few as we are, we should make a more permanent alliance within the game. I move to merge all guilds present."

Players all looked at Klover. Kirito shook his head. "I fly solo, as always…"

"And I nominate Kirito as guild commander, and Eulsam as vice commander." Kirito stopped. He turned and looked at Klover. "Despite the bad I've heard about you, I've also heard a lot of good. There's no way I can condone anyone leaving to go with you on your wild goose chase, but as the hero of Sword Art Online, and as an established champion of this world, your fame precedes you. Now that we have decided that only your close friends should be able to join you, I can confidently place a vote for you as our leader. The players would look up to you, and with you in command, I feel that everyone's morale would be greatly improved."

Eulsam blinked, and looked around the room. "All in favor of merging our guilds?" Many hands went up, and there was a quick majority. "Those in favor have the majority. A nomination has been placed for Kirito as the guild commander, and for myself as vice commander. Is there any second?"

"I can get behind that," Michiko said, still stopped at the door. "I second Eulsam's nomination for vice commander."

"Obviously, I'll second Kirito's nomination," Asuna said.

"I accept my nomination," Eulsam said. "Kirito?" Kirito thought about it for a moment, and nodded. "Will there be any other nominations for the title of commander?" He gave it a few seconds, but no one said anything. "Very well, Kirito will be our guild's new commander. Will there be any other nominations for the title of vice commander?"

"I nominate Asuna," Kirito said.

"Second!" Lisbeth jumped in.

Asuna blinked, and looked around. "I… I suppose I accept."

"Anyone else?" Eulsam asked.

"I nominate Michiko!" Xaela said. Doc raised his hand to second that, and Michiko nodded, accepting the nomination.

"I nominate Klover," another player spoke up, and he was instantly seconded.

Klover looked around the room. "I suppose I will accept, but I do not wish votes to be too far divided."

"Then players can vote as many times as they'd like," Kirito said. "Whoever has the most votes will win. And with a guild of 999, I think I could use two vice commanders. So whichever two players have the most votes by the end will claim the titles. Will there be any further nominations?" No one spoke. "Alright, all in favor of electing Asuna—"

"Before we begin casting votes," Klover said. "I wish to speak on the matter. If Asuna is going with you, then it would place two of our top three officers in the same place at the same time, which would pose a risk to all of us. I ask that players consider this when casting their votes. If Kirito wishes to bestow another title on her, then that is fine, but we do not need our commander and one of our two vice commanders marching into danger."

Many players had raised their hands for Asuna, but Klover's words swayed a few, and some of them went down. "All in favor of electing Michiko as vice commander?" Kirito asked. Even less players rose their hands for her. "Eulsam?" Many hands were raised, and when the vote for Klover came, many hands were also raised. "Alright," Kirito said. "Eulsam and Klover will be my vice commanders."

"What will be our guild name?" a player asked. More seemed to want to know.

Kirito thought about it for a moment. He opened up his menu, and started laying out a new guild, and then sent out invites and merge proposals to the players in the room. "The Champions of Vearth," Kirito said as he sent them all out.

* * *

><p>In the Dune Sea, a dragon-winged player came into a landing, somewhere along the huge canyon that had formed in the shattering. Kirito entered a cave formation, and walked in to a small group. There was Sinon, Leafa and Silica there. "Good evening," he said as he walked in.<p>

"What's this about?" Sinon asked. "Why have you gathered us here?" She, and the others, all had gray character cursors over them.

"I just thought," Kirito said. "We're all in the same boat here. We all have the same objective, don't we? So… why wouldn't we work together?"

"Because we have nothing else in common. You're the only one who knows everyone from your own timeline."

"Exactly," Leafa said. "You're not even alive in my timeline. You died in Aincrad, and the game last a full three years."

"Does any of that matter?" Kirito asked. "We're all in the same boat now. We all want to survive… and that just means taking out our counterparts. I've tried and failed, multiple times now. And I'm a higher level than any of you."

Sinon drew and arrow, and fired it at him. It went right in front of his face. "In this world, a good, critical shot will kill a player regardless of their level. I can take out the Sinon in this world easily. I don't need help doing it."

"Oh really?" Kirito asked. "Where is she right now?" Sinon sat back down, and stayed silent. "I didn't think so… None of us will be able to take them on alone, because they have each other. So we need to work together."

"What are you suggesting?" Silica asked.

"We form a guild," Kirito said. "We'll call ourselves… the Champions of Vearth! And we'll dedicate ourselves to creating chaos, and hunting down our counterparts so we can wake up in the real world one day."

Sinon shook her head. "Baka. I don't want to wake up in the real world. I want to kill Sinon because it's the ultimate test of my skill as a marksman… if I can kill myself, I'll prove that I'm the greatest."

"I'm with her," Silica said, waving around her right hand, which was painted red. "I have a bright future in store for me here. Why waste it?"

"Yes, but Sinon… you do still want to kill her. Silica, if you help me do this, I'll gladly join you when you join the Red Hand. Forget just being a part of it, we could kill their leader, and claim the whole guild for our own."

"I'm still not convinced," Leafa said. "When I arrived here, I attacked Silica because she had a red hand. I'm not a player-killer, like you. I'm not sure I even want to kill the real me. Would it be worth it?"

"You want to see your brother… your cousin again, don't you?" Kirito asked. "Well I'm here… we can fight together. When the Kirito and Leafa of this world are gone, we can look forward to waking up, and taking on their old lives. I'll fill you in on everything you missed from my timeline, it's almost the same as this one, remember? I'll do you one better. I'll kill Leafa for you. All you have to do is help us fight."

"But she will still end up dead," Leafa said.

"And she will be picked up and taken into virtual heaven," Kirito laughed a little. "And what will you get? You are fighting for the very right to exist here, Leafa. Your need trumps hers, I think."

"You're funny," Sinon said. "Trying to rationalize murder." Leafa looked at her with a hint of disgust. "Oh don't look at me that way."

"So what do you say, guys—well, girls, actually?" Kirito asked them.

Sinon sighed, and nodded. "Fine, fine. I'll join your party for now."

Silica shrugged, and nodded too. Kirito looked at Leafa, and soon, she sighed, and nodded. Kirito smiled, and invited them all to a party, and then, he formed a guild with them. Only when he went to type in the name… "Champions of Vearth is already taken…"

"Huh?" Sinon asked. "It was a stupid name anyways…"

"Looks like you and that other Kirito really think alike," Silica said. "How'bout Guardians of Vearth?"

Kirito nodded. "I like that one…" he typed it in, and thus, their guild was born.

* * *

><p>Sinon waited. She sat on the ledge of a cliff, looking out over the Oasis Caldera. Kirito, Silica and Leafa were there with her, standing around while she remained on the lookout for their counterparts. "Are you sure your information's right?" Kirito asked.<p>

"The Red Hand intelligence network is rarely wrong about anything," Silica said. "They don't catch everything, but the advantage of having a lot of eyes and ears is that a lot is seen and heard. Kirito and four other players left from Iceberg, and were seen heading southeast. Two other reports recorded fast moving, flying mounts flying around fallen Aincrad, and towards Oasis Caldera."

"What if it's not them?" Leafa asked.

"It's them alright," Kirito said. "In my timeline, a lot of valuable artifacts revolved around Mother Earth and the Temple of Gaea. I killed a lot of players there trying to get to them."

"You did?" Leafa asked.

"You're a little bit more evil than I thought," Sinon said. "I like it…"

"Sinon," Silica said, pointing out towards the sky. "Shouldn't you be watching?" Sinon had turned to look at Kirito, and was giving him an… interested look.

"Despite everything," Kirito said. "I'm still in love with Asuna. So, sorry, Sinon. It'll never work."

"You and Asuna will never work," she said, turning back to watch the skies. "The Asuna of this world is one of the quote-unquote good guys. She couldn't fall for a guy like you."

"Who says she has to fall for me?" Kirito asked. "I'm still familiar with a bunch of mind control spells, the effects of which supposedly won't wear off in the real world, when the game ends."

"I will let you log out," Sinon said. "If I can get my kill first. But I want this game to go on forever. And you might consider staying here. They will know it's you if you kill Kirito and take his place."

"Sinon couldn't guarantee you a logout anyways," Silica said. "The Death Oath are in control of the game now… just GothGod actually. Once we take control of all of the players, we'll figure out how to beat GothGod, and take what he has. We'll be in control of the game, then."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Kirito said. Everyone turned to look at him. He laughed. "What? You all have your plans. I have mine. You're right, we could never return to the real world, unless we had control of that one too. Then we'd be immune to the threats of the authorities. I plan on taking GothGod's power for myself after Kirito is dead and Asuna is mine. Once I have it, I'll return this game to its truest form. You'll be able to have fun in this playground while Asuna and I return to the real world… as king and queen of all. With control over every nations infrastructure and weapons arsenals, they'll have no choice but to bow down before us."

"The Red Hand and Laughing Coffin rule the game world, and an evil Kirito and Asuna rule the real one," Sinon said. "What makes you think you can take GothGod's powers though?"

"Brother," Leafa said. "Is that really your intention?"

"Having doubts, Leafa?" He turned to her. She looked down to the ground, and shook her head. "Good. I would hate to have to remove you from my picture of a perfect world. After all is said and done, you would be showered with power and wealth, just not quite as much as myself." Kirito turned back to Sinon. "It's simple. Administrator privileges to grant myself a Fruit of Knowledge."

"Only GothGod has admin privileges," Silica said. "Why would he do that?"

"Even though he's so powerful, he's still a player in this game. He is just as susceptible to the various magical effects as anyone else. It's really rather simple. I hope none of the do-gooders have thought of that yet. They're probably on the war path, planning on fighting the equivalent of a god outright."

"When you return to the real world," Sinon said. "I have a request… two actually."

"What is that?"

"First, restore Laughing Coffin control over the game."

"Why does Laughing Coffin get to control the world again?" Silica asked. "After the find job they did the first time… they should all be banned from full-dive."

"They may have made some mistakes," Sinon told her. "But they were always fair. As a player-killer, wouldn't you want the game to be fair before anything else?"

"Done," Kirito said. "Your second request?"

"Send us more players," she said. Silica nodded to that idea. "Red Hand enjoys making slaves and breaking players, but they'll run out quickly enough and I'd rather them not turn to Laughing Coffin. We ourselves… well, we'll run out of players to kill eventually as well. It would be best if our guilds could coexist instead of fighting one another."

Kirito nodded to that request. "Also done," he said. "There will be so many people in the real world to play with. I could spare hundreds of thousands… I could spare you millions of people and it wouldn't put a dent in my population."

"Also," Silica said. "You shouldn't be a stranger. Come visit us in Vearth after it all ends. We could have a party. We could have lots of parties and dine on the blood of the players we kill."

Sinon shook her head and made a sound of disgust. "You Red Handed players are sick. We were killers, but you guys are twisted deviants. How do you do it?"

"Give me a week or two of your freedom," Silica said. "You'll be begging for more…"

"Here they come!" Sinon said. The group all looked out over the horizon. Four flying horses had taken off from some distant spot, and were flying towards the caldera. "Silica… the mounts you promised us?"

Silica nodded, and traded a mount to Sinon and to Leafa. Kirito could fly on his own. The mounts were all dragons. "How did you manage these anyways?" Kirito asked her.

"In my timeline, it was the Red Hand who became dragon slayers. We raided the Dragon's Nest and killed Lisbeth, and then Smuldur. Being a beast tamer, it was easy to force my will onto the dragons I encountered with those two out of the picture. They made me vice commander for it, after I killed Talia in a duel. Of course, my rank got reset once I got here."

The group of them flew off, and towards the pegasi flying in the distance. When they got closer, the real Kirito and his group went into a nose dive, heading for the ground, and the group of doppelgangers followed them down. When they reached the ground, Kirito and the others all had their weapons drawn. They were ready to fight.

"Kirito," the dragon swordsman said. He drew his two dragon blades from behind him as he approached. "Without your time-traveling daughter here to save you… this… this is where you die."

"Kirito," the real Kirito said. "Fake Kirito… I see you brought some friends."

"Where is Silica?" the false Silica asked as she looked at each of the group members. "I really wished you all would stay together and make it easy for us. She drew a pair of red daggers, and two of the three dragons they rode in on snarled and trailed along behind her."

"Silica is safe," Klein said. "In the hands of the Dragon Queen. You'll never touch her."

An arrow fell from the sky. Sinon saw it coming, and slid out of the way as it hit the ground, stirring ashes. Sinon looked up to see her double still airborne, riding a dragon.

"Sinon, the other Sinon," the real Leafa spoke. "She is a part of Laughing Coffin if I recall correctly. Silica is in the Red Hand. Kirito is just insane. What's your story?" She looked directly at her counterpart. "I couldn't imagine a scenario where I'd be okay with killing innocent people."

Leafa shook her head, and pointed at the false Kirito. "He… we have a deal."

"Don't fall for it," Asuna said, looking at the exchange. "Don't forget that these alter egos are supposed to be the very worst of us. My double, despite being on our side, was a nightmare to deal with. Your double is likely plotting something."

The fake Kirito looked back at his cousin. "Is that true, Leafa?" he asked. "Are you hatching a scheme back there? I can't wait to see it play out. Or maybe you're just doing your best to play both sides, so you can come out on top… I won't ask you to answer that… if you're lying, you're a liar."

"Are we going to blabber on all day?" Kirito asked. "Or are we going to fight?"

"We could make a deal," the fake Kirito said. "I only want you…" he pointed a sword to Kirito, and then his other sword to Asuna. "And her. I could easily kill these other doubles, and I will if you go quietly."

"That's the worst bluff I've heard all day," the real Sinon said. "You."

"Worth a shot…" The false Kirito smiled, and then there was a brief moment of silence, and everyone waited for someone to make the first move.

The real Sinon went first, running back away from the battle. The false Sinon activated her special ability, and fired five arrows at her target. Three of them missed, one of them just barely grazed Sinon's cheek, and the last one hit her ankle. She tumbled into the ground in a scream of pain.

As that was happening, the false Kirito charged forward, assisted by Silica's two dragons. He spread his wings, and transformed into his pseudo-dragon form. Asuna activated Valkyrie, and took on the first few strikes by the dragon swordsman, blocking and parrying attacks with shield and sword. Kirito ducked left and circled back to swing his blades at one of the dragons. That beast engaged him, using tooth and claw to attack him with equal fury.

Klein moved through the rush, towards the false Silica, and activated his Quickdraw ability. Faster than the eye could see, he charged past the girl, and made a fatal blow at her head. His Quickdraw ended earlier than expected however, and when he looked back, Silica turned and smiled at him. He looked at his blade, and it was bloody, but not with the girl's blood. The second of the dragons had sacrificed the end of its tail for its master. It reared back, mouth fuming with smoke, and Klein ran away as the blast of flames flooded outward.

The false Leafa and the real Leafa both went right to work with their healing. The false cured the dragon of its serious case of amputation, and the real one fixed up Sinon's tattered Achilles' tendon. Sinon was back up, and drew an arrow. She jumped, spinning around, and activated her ability. Five arrows flew, and they struck at the airborne dragon's leathery wings, ripping through them. The large beast plummeted to the ground, and landed in a plume of ashes. The false Sinon rolled off its back, and vanished in the cloud.

"Kirito!" Asuna shouted. "We can't fight them like this, not with these dragons on their side!"

The insane Kirito smiled at her, and nodded as he continue to slash away with his swords. "You got that right, love. My offer is always open to you. Surrender, and your friends will live!" She glared at him, and activated her Lightning Flash Sword skill, warping around him in bolts of lightning to strike with her blade. "Reckless Dragon's Fury!" the false shouted. Suddenly, his wings formed into arms of flames, and equipped his two Elucidators, but on top of that, he also activated his Blade Dancer's Fury, and started to match… no, double Asuna's weapon strikes, knocking her around even with her lightning pace like a rag doll.

Kirito saw this, and threw himself into a whirlwind to toss the dragon in a short-term daze. Then, she charged towards his double with a Starburst Stream, slashing furiously with his weapons to aid Asuna in combat. It wasn't enough, and he also went into a Blade Dancer's Fury, going even faster. Even then, the two of them were merely matching the other Kirito's weapon strikes, and couldn't land a single hit on him.

Leafa focused all of her attention on healing Asuna up from the brutal flurry of strikes, and since the two were once again wearing the skull charms, they shared both healing and damage. She only got halfway through though before the dragon Kirito left unattended was looking down at her, flames ready to spew forth from its mouth. Leafa quickly threw up a defensive shield, and then turned to flee from the monster.

Klein was having plenty of his own troubles to help anyone. Now he was on his own against Silica and the second dragon. His combat style was suited for dealing damage. He hadn't gotten much of a chance to use his counter-strike abilities until now. The dragon reached him, and swiped at him with its claws. He turned to an ability in which he drew his sword halfway, mimicking his Quickdraw, but caught the incoming attack as his blade was only halfway out. This turned into a counter move in which he grinded his blade in a draw against the dragon's claws. Normally, this would disarm a player, but a dragon's claws were a part of its body, so instead it turned into a gruesome slash up the length of its arm, stunning the dragon in pain.

As he had leveled up, his Quickdraw's cool-down time had decreased dramatically, and it was already ready again. He charged at Silica, who was not directly engaging in combat, and dealt a serious blow against her, nearly killing her. Leafa focused on healing her instead of the dragon, and so Klein turned his next attack to the dragon, and made a lightning jab into its chest, striking one of its two hearts, and dropping its health to zero. That dragon would reincarnate shortly, but for now, he was safe.

Sinon looked for her double in the ash plume. As it started to settle, she spotted her target, just as she was starting to fire arrows. The two of them both started their special ability at once. Both of them moving at super speeds, releasing arrows and dodging them as they came. Neither one was hit, and after the flurry of missed shots, the false Sinon ducked behind a tree, waiting for her ability to refresh. Meanwhile, her dragon shook itself from the daze of the crash landing, and turned to attack Sinon. Sinon turned and fled farther back as the dragon scorched the earth.

"Kirito!" Asuna shouted. Her mana was about to run out. Kirito's endurance was falling extremely low as well. The doppelganger's spirit and energy were both outlasting them. Kirito went into a whirlwind once more, and so did his double, the two of them clashed blades, and knocked each other into a temporary weapon daze. It gave Asuna enough time to switch to her spear, and hurl the crackling weapon at the false Kirito. It struck him in the gut, and he roared. He flapped his wings and leapt backwards, deactivating his abilities. It gave Kirito and Asuna a chance to stop theirs as well.

"We can't take him," Kirito said. He felt weak, and looked to his health bar. "Leafa?" He turned around to see Leafa had fled from the dragon. "Leafa!"

The false Kirito was charging back at him, and he barely caught the attack against his blades. "What's the matter, Kirito?" the false said. "Afraid your little cousin might bite the dust? My offer still stands." The false Kirito's strength was just a little higher, and as he was about to break through Kirito's defenses, Asuna leapt in, and went to bash the fake from the side. With his wings back though, it was a simple strike to knock Asuna onto her back mid-charge.

Just as the players seemed to be losing the fight, the ashen clouds above peeled away, and sunlight shined through to the ground. The fake Kirito looked up to the skies, and in that moment, Kirito and Asuna took advantage of him being off-guard, and launched a dual attack, striking him hard and dealing some damage for the first time in this fight. The dragon swordsman stumbled back, and put up his defenses.

From the heavens, three figures flew down on the backs of pegasi. Their armor shined like light, and they each had a shield and spear equipped. "Kirito!" the false Leafa shouted. "We got company!" The false couldn't look away again, and snarled as he charged back in to fight Kirito and Asuna.

Sinon, who was dancing around the dragon, avoiding hits, found herself under fire, and took three out of five shots. One arrow hit her leg, another her arm, and a third, right into her side. She fell to the ground and reeled in pain. The dragon stopped its onslaught, and the false Sinon approached. "It wasn't a fair fight," she said. "Nonetheless…" As she drew an arrow, and started to aim it down at Sinon's head, she was struck in the back by a crackling spear. Lightning danced around her and she screamed loudly as she fell to the ground, the spear impaling her propping her up, and draining her health. As she was trying to remove the object from her chest, she was stabbed by a sword from behind, and fell down the spear to the ground, dead.

Sinon looked up, in pain, only to see a figure clad in armor that shined like the sun leaping in to action to block an incoming blast of flames, and saving her life. The figure then pushed forwards against the dragon, and jumped in to stab it several times in the chest.

Leafa, still on the run, turned around to fire a flurry of smoke blasts around herself, to try and hide. The dragon chasing her could, of course, see fine in the smoke, and lashed out with its claws, knocking Leafa down. She started to cast healing spells on herself, but the dragon was preparing another breath weapon, ready to burn her alive. Before that could happen, another warrior of light fell from the sky, and lodged a sword deep into the dragon's head, killing it instantly and dropping it flat on its belly.

Klein went from targeting Silica to targeting the false Leafa, but between the two of them, he was starting to have trouble. They were a fairly effective team. As he turned to strike Silica, Leafa cast a shield on her, and protected her from a single hit. Now way to close for comfort, the Silica of the Red Hand slashed at him with her daggers, and after dealing him a series of dangerous blows, kicked him back. Before she could walk over and cut his throat, the third ally from the heavens had thrown a spear of lightning into Leafa's head, killing her, and knocked the false Silica with a shield, pushing her away.

Kirito and Asuna had their fair share of trouble with the dragon swordsman, who was proving himself every bit as formidable of an opponent as a fully-fledged player-boss. They simply couldn't beat him with just two, and their health was draining, fast. He came at Kirito with a whirlwind, knocking both of his weapons away, and then dealing a serious blow, knocking him back. As he charged in to deliver the final blow, Asuna jumped in front of him, and blocked the incoming attack with her shield. Her strength faltered though, and she was knocked down into her lover. "It really is a pity," the false Kirito said. "That you two wouldn't put up a better fight. Asuna, my love… I think it's time I take you back." She blinked, and tried to hold her sword up against him, but he knocked it away easily, letting out a sigh. He held out a hand, and started to cast a spell, but was interrupted when he saw enemies approaching from all around. He lifted himself into the air, and looked around. "What is this?" he asked. "That's just not fair!"

Leafa was alive and well, and was healing Kirito and Asuna back up in health. The false Kirito made a quick run for it while they were still recovering. Kirito and Asuna both looked up at their saviors, who had all come closer together. They each had armor that shined with light, and the symbol of two pairs of wings placed around a halo on their chest plates. They had wings and halos of light, and their weapons were all alight as well. Above their heads, they had player cursors, but instead of green or red or gray, they were bright and golden, filled with light. The woman at their center took off her helmet, and she smiled down at the two of them.

"Who are you?" Sinon asked. She read their nameplates: Lily at the center, and to the sides, Crystal and Amberal. Next to their names however, they had no level marker, not even the question marks that would appear if a player couldn't read a target's level because it was too high.

"Iogame Lily," the first one spoke. "You don't know me, but you know my sister, Michiko."

"Lily… Michiko's older sister," Leafa said. She gasped and her eyes lit up. "You're dead! How are you here right now?"

She smiled. The one to her left was much younger looking. Crystal took her helmet off, and she appeared as a very young girl. "Crystal," she said, introducing herself with a curtsy.

The third removed his helmet, to reveal that he was a teenaged boy, with short, blonde hair. "Amberal," he said.

"We were sent here to save you by Heathcliff," Lily said.

"Heathcliff?" Kirito asked. "Kayaba?"

"You're all ghosts," Asuna said. "Aren't you?"

"Ghosts?" Lily thought about it. "I suppose you might think us ghosts. That term implies a sort of haunting, unfinished business mantra though. We were sent here with the specific intention of aiding you on your quest."

"How do you know about our quest?" Kirito asked.

"Mankind does no good to try and understand the ways of heaven," Amberal said. "Beyond what realms the forces of darkness in this world can reach, we exist, still, as eternal echoes of the past, seeing all, hearing all."

"By the good graces of our king and savior, Kayaba Akihiko, A.K.A. Heathcliff," Crystal said. "And… not that we meant that to sound all biblical or anything."

"We," Lily said. "Are the Valkyries of Vearth. The souls of the fallen players of this world made immortal by the forces of good, empowered by divine light and sent back to aid the heroes of this world in fighting those who would seek to do evil."

"And we are not alone," Crystal said. "Where we come from, there are many more."

"Heathcliff," Kirito said, still wrapping his head around all of this. "Kayaba is alive somewhere in the virtual universe, and he's rescued the minds of all of the players who would have otherwise been lost forever. But… why?"

"You got it," Lily said. "Don't worry about the whys and hows. Just know that the mission you're on is going to be essential in ending this game, and freeing the players. For now just know this: that you and your friends are under the protection of forces that GothGod and the Death Oath cannot touch."

"If you're so much more powerful," Klein said. "Then why haven't you ended the game already?"

"It's not so simple," Amberal said. "GothGod has a lot of control, and he could end the lives of all players with a few simple commands. I hate to say it, but he is almost as powerful as Kayaba right now. His power is limited by the bounds of this game, however. Kayaba has been working out a way to end this game for a long time, and soon, the plan will unfold and the game will end."

"He can't do it alone though, and not from his seat of power," Crystal said. "He is counting on heroes like you to accomplish things here that he cannot."

"Well you saved our asses," Leafa said. "It kind of makes me want to go along with it. But I don't even fully understand what we're doing out here."

"We don't even have the full picture," Kirito said. "All we know is that we're supposed to retrieve an item called the Heart of the Earth."

"Hai," Lily said. "It will be a crucial element in bringing down GothGod."

"What is it?" Asuna asked.

"The Heart of the Earth," Amberal said, stepping forward and looking out to the caldera. "It is an old piece of coding that is simple enough to slip under the noses of programmers, and under the nose of GothGod himself. It was always a background program, only meant to be accessible from computer consoles on the outside. Kayaba's work manifest. It is the Cardinal system's ultimate fail safe…"

"Cardinal… the system that Aincrad—no, all of the virtual MMO's operate with," Kirito said. "What is this virus intended to do?"

"Way back, when Kayaba was still just starting Sword Art Online, he foresaw many potential threats to his control over the game. The worst threat of all was this," Lily said. "That somehow, another player, or someone on the outside, would hack their way into the administrator list. The ultimate fail safe is a virus that deletes the list of system administrators. Without that bit of coding, there can be no admins. No one will be able to restore admin privileges without hacking into the system directly, and recreating that piece of programming from scrap."

The group made the connection from there. "So by activating the Heart of the Earth," Sinon said.

Kirito finished her thought. "GothGod will be unable to access admin functions."

"Precisely," Crystal said. "There's just one problem. Security was beefed up quite a bit since Sword Art Online, and the anti-virus and firewalls saw some major improvements. So in order to actually use the virus without it getting stopped before it can work properly, you'll have to destroy the system's security."

"How can we do that?" Asuna asked. "Firewalls and anti-virus… that's system side stuff. We can't do anything about that within the game."

"All in good time," Lily said. She walked past the group, and looked onward toward their goal. "For now, let's just worry about retrieving the Heart of the Earth before someone else stumbles onto it."

"Someone like that Kirito from another universe," Amberol said. "He's heading there now, and we should be able to catch him before he gets there if we leave now."

"Pegasi are too slow to catch up to a dragon," Klein said. "If he had to go, then we should have kept him around to fight."

"We won't be flying on pegasi," Lily said. "We can each carry one of you. And Valkyries can fly faster than dragons."

"There are three of you, and five of us," Asuna said.

"Valkyries can fly faster than dragons," Lily repeated herself.

Asuna blinked. "I can't fly!" she said, confused as to what exactly the plan here was. She remembered though, seeing Yuichi in her Valkyrie state, flying around to fight.

Lily opened a player menu, and hit a button. Kirito's group got a pop-up, giving them experience gained from the last fight. "A little boost might change that," she said. "We don't need this, so why don't you take it."

Asuna's level rose to one-hundred and fifty, and another pop-up appeared in front of her. It read, "Class Skill Gained: Flight of the Valkyrie." She opened her eyes wide and gasped. "I… can fly."

Lily giggled at her, and leaped around, jokingly. "You can fly!"

"We should probably get going," Amberol said. He grabbed the back of Klein's Mithril armor, and started floating up. Klein began to panic as he found himself floating up off of the ground. Crystal took Sinon's hand and hoisted her up much the same. Lily lifted Leafa from the ground.

Asuna saw her mana top out, and activated her Valkyrie mode, her wings this time appearing much larger than before, and they could move. "It's just like Alfheim," she said to Kirito. She pulled him into a huge, and spun around as she flung the two of them into the air, and then flew off after the others.

* * *

><p>The players didn't catch up to the false Kirito until he had reached and landed at the center of the caldera. The area around there was covered in rubble and ashes, and was spotted with pools and puddles of molten lava. He looked around, and when he turned around, he noticed the Valkyries had caught up, and drew his dragon swords.<p>

The players all drew weapons, and Kirito stepped close to him. "Put your swords away. You can't possibly hope to fight all of us."

The false Kirito took a step back as Kirito approached him, and held onto his weapons tight. "What did you come out here looking for?" he asked. "A weapon? Something that would help you fight GothGod?"

"It's none of your concern," Lily said. "Come quietly, and spare us the battle."

"I'm too powerful for you," the dragon swordsman said. "You cannot hope to defeat me!" Despite his loud voice, he was nervous.

"Kirito," Asuna said, looking at him. "We get it. The time you came from was cruel to you, and you lost loved ones and it made you a monster. But there's no point in fighting anymore."

"Maybe you're right," he said. "Maybe I can't take you all on, not with those… those angels helping you out. But if you want to take me on, Asuna… Kirito, all of you! I can promise one thing: that I'll take at least one of you down with me!"

"But why?" Kirito asked.

The false Kirito laughed at them. He gripped his weapons tight. "It doesn't matter! This… this is a true test of my abilities!" He flapped his wings and charged at his counterpart. "Burning Whirlwind!" He spun into an attack, and flames danced all around him as he spun into the group. The players all dodged away, except for the three celestials, who readied their shields and took the damage.

"Why aren't you dodging?" Asuna shouted at them as she watched their health drop. The dragon swordsman ended his whirlwind, and flames shot out across the field, hitting everyone.

"The dead have no fear of death," Crystal said as she lunged at the false Kirito in an attack.

"If we die, we go back to heaven!" Lily was the next to jump into a strike. Kirito's two blades matched theirs, and he whipped around with a swing of his tail to throw the two back. Amberol went in after them, and held the fake Kirito's attacks at bay for a brief period of time.

"So we fight without fear…" Asuna charged in and started assisting Amberol, the two of them tanking against the incredibly fast, heavily over-powered Kirito.

Sinon readied her arrows, and activated her special ability before firing away. Klein moved in as the arrows were flying with a Quickdraw, slashing at the doppelganger's backside. Kirito waited where he was for the arrows to go in. Only the first of the hits against the dragon swordsman hit him, and after that, he flew up into the air, pushing players back with a gust of wind from his wings.

"We have to take out his wings!" Sinon shouted as she readied another arrow. The tip of it lit up with a magical effect before she let loose. When the arrow flew into the sky, it whooshed past the dragon, and exploded into shrapnel in front of him. More arrows flew off, and he started to fly around them, taking minimal damage from the cluster. He was forced to come back and attack, circling towards the ground and barreling through the party with his swords swinging rapidly. He was too fast for any of them to make an attack, and he managed to hit Kirito, Asuna and Lily for minor damage, which Leafa healed.

The dragon stopped at a distance from the party, and transformed into his pseudo-dragon form once again as her turned around, and blasted flames against all of the party members. The mortal players all fled, burning in the flames and crying out in pain. The three Valkyries pushed forward, holding up their shields and reducing as much damage as they could. When the flames stopped, Leafa got to healing the party. Everyone was now badly burned.

The Valkyries all charged, but with a flap of the dragon's wings, they were all blown back. Kirito and Asuna went in, Asuna turning her Valkyrie state back in, although with little mana available, and went into her lightning speed sword skills, attacking the dragon while Kirito activated Blade Dancer's Fury, and swung wildly at him.

"Reckless Dragon's Fury!" the false shouted. His wings drew inward, turning into a pair of blazing arms. After drawing his spare blades, he fought the two of them back, making small strikes her and there. "Burning Whirlwind!" In a spiral of flames, he dashed through the power couple and into Klein and the other Valkyries who were all making another charge at him. The attack knocked everyone back, and as it ended, another blast of flames singed the party. The false Kirito deactivated the fury, and looked back at the party. Sinon fired another flurry of shrapnel shots, which forced him to start dodging once more. As he ran, however, he bolted for Leafa, the group's sole healer. The players all charged him, but the dragon was too far into his advance. He struck the poor girl with his blades, and cut her down. She was near death.

He stopped his run, and turned back to try and hit her again. "Ultimate Sacrifice!" Amberol shouted. Suddenly, his body vanished, bursting into bright lights that swarmed for Leafa. She was surrounded then in an impenetrable wall of light. When the dragon hit it, it exploded, and he was sent flying backwards, and tumbling through dirt and ash and rock. Amberol did not reappear, and Leafa found herself restored to half of her health. She ran to the other side of the group, and Crystal stayed with her to defend her while she healed herself and the group. Her mana was starting to run low.

Before the dragon could get up, he had two crackling spears thrown into his wings, and as he roared in pain, he whipped himself around. The thrashing only made it worse, tearing the leathery wings and he stumbled back away from where he stood. Asuna and Lily recalled their weapons just as their Valkyrie states ended. "Looks like you're grounded," Kirito said before rushing to attack. Klein joined in the assault, and they clashed blades with the false Kirito. When Asuna and Lily ran in, it started to become too much for him, and he threw himself into another blazing whirlwind to knock them off of him, and ran back away from the attackers. He shook himself off, his health standing at sixty percent.

The players all held their weapons towards him, Sinon drew an arrow and was ready to fire. During the pause in action, Leafa brought everyone back up tom max health. The false Kirito snarled, and shook his head. "You haven't beaten me…" he said. "Not yet… Rain of Fire!" His swords lit up with fire, and smoke billowed from his maw. He started swinging his blades through the air, and each swung launched a fireball at the party, and they were fast. An additional trio of blasts shot from his mouth, and soon it was raining exploding death on the party. Leafa used all of her mana to activate a powerful shield spell around them all, but it wouldn't last long.

Crystal, the youngest of the three Valkyries, and youngest of the entire group, stepped forward, out of the shield and into the firestorm. She activated her Valkyrie state, and charged towards Kirito with a spear thrust. "Ultimate Spear!" she shouted out her attack. Her whole body vanished, bursting into light and infusing itself into her spear. The weapon plowed into the dragon and exploded, sending him flying back. Crystal was gone after that, and the false Kirito's health was knocked down to thirty percent.

Before the dragon swordsman could recuperate, the players blitzed him. Kirito went into his Blade Dancer's Fury, and made several harsh attacks, slashing at him with those weapons, and ended his attack by thrusting both of those Elucidators into the dragon's body. Klein went in next, activating another ability, and delivering a series of blows on the dragon before sheathing his blade. Sinon fired five arrows at him, and hit every mark. Finally, Asuna leapt at him, and drove her spear into him, impaling the monster again, and then tumbling away, ready to defend herself.

The false Kirito reverted back to his human form, and sat on his knees, heaving. Blood dripped down his body, and from his mouth. His health read zero percent, but he was still alive, meaning that his remaining health pool was so low, that the game rounded his remaining percentage health down to zero. Kirito stepped forward then, and raised both of his weapons, but stopped as he got closer, hearing the dragon mutter something.

"Asuna…" the doppelganger said. He looked up into the sky, coughing and panting. "Asuna…" Kirito held off his attack, and Lily walked over to him, and nudged Kirito's blades down with her oww. The battle was over.

Above them, the cloud of ashes opened up, and a figure fell from the heavens on wings of light. It struck the ground like lightning and stood up. Like the other Valkyries of Vearth, her armor shined with light, and she had a pair of glowing wings, and a halo. Her hair was long, and red, and she looked down at the fake Kirito, and smiled.

"Is that—" Asuna started to say, but was interrupted.

"Asuna," Kirito said, finishing the thought. The figure's name read as Asuna, and next to it was a grayed out number two.

Asuna's clone touched the dragon's cheek, cupping it in her palm, and as he looked up at her, tears began to stream from his eyes. She leaned down to him, and whispered something into his ear.

"What's happening?" Klein asked. "Isn't that the Asuna from another timeline?"

"Yes," Lily said. "We're actually great friends. She asked to take part in these final moments of the insane dragon's life."

"Huh?" Kirito watched, and thought about it for a moment. He couldn't quite figure out all of the reasons for what was happening, or even what was happening.

"Yes," the other Kirito muttered. The false Asuna smiled at him, and nodded. She kissed his forehead, and then she gripped his jaw in her hand. Her eyes were suddenly sparking with electricity, and the dragon swordsman jolted, his final hit points vanishing, and his body collapsing, dead.

"Love," Lily said. "Because I enjoy being cheesy… is the final boss for the forces who would seek to corrupt and destroy the good in this world, and love's most powerful weapon… is forgiveness."

While the dragon's body collapsed, a glowing image of him remained in the fake Asuna's hands. And then, before anymore words were spoken, she spread her wings, and flew fast into the sky, taking the spirit of the dragon Kirito with her.

"You're right, that was really cheesy," Klein said before letting out a short laugh.

"Now let's find what we came here for," Kirito said as he put away his weapons.

"It's not here," Lily said.

Kirito blinked and looked at her. "What do you mean?"

Lily opened a trade window with Kirito, and put an item up for him: The Heart of the Earth. "I had it all along," she said. The group all blinked, and looked at her funny.

"Then why did you drag us out here if you could have just given it to us when we first met?" Klein asked. "Why did we come all the way out here at all?"

"Because we had to kill your evil twins," Lily said. Kirito accepted the trade, but he was equally annoyed by the fact that they came all the way here when they didn't need to. "Besides, do you really think Kayaba would have just dropped such an important artifact in the world… where literally anyone could pick it up? You were sent out here for one specific reason: to kill the dragon swordsman. He would have made a powerful enemy if we didn't finish him off now."

"You could have told us that from the start," Kirito said.

"Yeah, it's not like we wouldn't have helped you do it," Asuna said. She put her weapons away, and stretched out. "Don't you trust us?"

"Of course we do!" Lily said. "But who didn't you trust? Any other players. And neither do we. Neither does Kayaba. We feel that since you're the ones who started this mission, the mission to end the game and kill GothGod, you're the ones most suited to end it. We wanted you to be as far away from other players as possible, and we also needed to kill the other Kirito. We took out two birds with one stone, as they say. We also… weren't quite ready to reveal our existence to the masses. And we won't be able to officially unveil ourselves for a little while longer. If GothGod knows about us… then he'll set up defenses to keep us from intervening in his affairs. It was necessary to lead you out here."

"Wait," Sinon said. "You led us out here? Kirito and Asuna didn't mention the Valkyries of Vearth at all. I doubt they knew who you were before now too, because they were just as surprised at your appearance as we were."

"Yuichi was the one who told us to come this way," Kirito said. He became disheartened, and looked at Lily. "Yuichi said she had traveled back in time, and I believed her… but, now I have to wonder… was she some kind of elaborate trick set up by Kayaba, so that he could get us to come here?"

Lily shook her head. "Yuichi surprised Kayaba too," she said as she patted Kirito's shoulder. "As far as we can tell, she's real. But of course, it's certainly possible that she's not. The fallen players of the virtual worlds tend not to question someone's existence, since many would have trouble believing in our own. Kayaba was trying to figure out a way to get you to come out this way without revealing himself, Yuichi doing that for us… it was like some kind of miracle."

"Alright," Asuna said. "We have the Heart of the Earth, now can you tell us what we need to do next?"

Lily nodded, and stepped away, she pointed towards the southwest. "The Red Hand must be stopped," she said. "They will not be an easy bunch to defeat, but it will be possible. As we speak, their forces are being pushed back to Paradise Island by the combined efforts of the Champions of Vearth and the Hand of Salvation. Their island fortress will be difficult to take. Kayaba… is sending reinforcements."

Kirito looked at her, and nodded slowly. "Reinforcements of what kind?"

"You'll see soon enough," Lily said. "And he'll tell you in person."

"He will?" all of the players asked in tandem.

"Kirito," Lily said. "He will meet you just where he always planned, on the 100th floor of Aincrad."


	38. Chapter 38: The Angels of Aincrad

Lisbeth, Sampson and Silica walked through mountainous terrain. They were far from anywhere, in a zone so far displaced from the rest of Vearth that the ashes of the shattering did not even fall here. The sky was murky, and filled with a strange haze, however. The zone itself was warm, despite its altitude. Lisbeth and Silica were now both armed with Silver Steel weapons and Mithril armor. Lisbeth was the only one of the three who wore a heavy plate over her cloth-like metal weave. Sampson wasn't even completely covered, wearing a tunic and trousers made of the material.

"Silica," Lisbeth said. "I think I can feel something near-by, have you got anything?"

Silica opened her player map. Hers was different than most. The map was covered in a series of dots. Her class—Beast Tamer—allowed her to track the locations of many of the monsters of Veath, dragons included. She looked through the various pings, and then nodded. "There's a small group of them in a cave." She pointed off towards a winding path. "Should be that way."

Lisbeth nodded. While the rest of her body was fully armored, her back was almost completely exposed. On her back were what appeared to be tattoos of a set of leathery wings, but they pulled away from her skin, magically transforming into a large set of dragon wings. She took off, and flew towards where Silica pointed. A few moments later, she returned, a small flock of dragons flying with her. Most of these were small, no larger than any of the three players.

"We're finding more and more out this way," Sampson said. "Do you think they might have all gathered up together in a central nest?"

Lisbeth shook her head. "I don't see any reason they would. My last command before they fled the nest in the Northern Mountains was to scatter. I told them to do that so that no player group would ever run into too many of them at once." The largest of the dragons landed next to the group, and Lisbeth took its head, and rubbed a hand along its snout. She whispered something foreign to the beast, and it took off, the other dragons following it as it flew west.

"You only have command of them when they're in close range, right?" Silica asked.

"That's true," Lisbeth said.

"So isn't there a risk that they'll start acting on their own free will when they get to wherever it is you're having them all rally together?"

"I know they are," she said. "I'm telling them all to fly to a cave I know of in the North-eastern tip of the Northern Mountains. They should be away from most players there."

"What if they decide to leave though?" Silica asked.

Lisbeth shrugged. "I don't know. There's only so much I can do." Lisbeth stopped in her tracks, and then took a step back.

"What is it?" Sampson asked. He drew his weapon.

Lisbeth shook her head, and then nodded. "That makes sense…"

"What makes sense?" Silica asked.

"The reason why there's more and more dragons out this way. I sense something out here."

"What?" Sampson asked.

"Smuldur."

* * *

><p>"Michiko," Eulsam said. They were in the command center at Iceberg. "You joined up with this guild knowing full well of our plans, and our intentions."<p>

"Rescuing players in Newberg should be our number one priority!" she shouted, slamming her fist on the table. "I've had my wardens doing what you've asked for weeks now, but the longer we spend out here, the more time GothGod has to train the players there, to turn them into an army and send them marching to their deaths. We should be saving as many as we can right now!"

"Kirito put me in charge of the eastern front," Eulsam said. "You and the Black Wardens fall under my command, and the council agreed that it was a waste of time and resources to continue the rescue missions. It is a short-term goal for a long-term problem, and it's not doing us any good."

"If you would just tell Klover that you needed the extra two hundred players back, then you wouldn't need us. We're a whole eleven soldiers, Eulsam. Losing us won't put a dent in your forces."

"The western front is much larger, and the Hand of Salvation is much stronger in the east. And you are not Black Wardens anymore, Michiko. You are Champions of Vearth. We all have to work as a team now."

Michiko shook her head. "We can leave, you know. We're free to reform the Black Wardens at any time."

"Then do it." Eulsam looked at her and shook his head. "Because you're either working together with us or you're not. You can't have it both ways." He opened his player menu as a message pinged. He read it, and then looked to Michiko. "Kirito and the others have retrieved their artifact, and they have a heading to their next destination. It's going to be a bit longer before they're ready to come back, he says."

Michiko rolled her eyes, and turned to walk away. "I don't care about that. You say what I'm doing is a waste of time, but our commander himself is running off on a wild goose chase. I'm gathering my Wardens and I'm leaving."

"Wait," Eulsam said. "I'm not just running my mouth off for the hell of it, Michiko. He passed on an order for you."

She stopped, and sighed. "Alright, what is it?"

"He says he needs you to take Xaela and Doc, and no one else, and travel to the Arena town."

"The Arena town?" Michiko asked. "It's overrun with Red Hand. We'll never make it there. And the safety-net of the tournament was turned off by GothGod when he took control of the game."

"What are you saying?"

"Tell me, Eulsam, since I received no such message, is it you sending me to die, or Kirito?"

He paused at that. "That's a low blow," he said. "You have him on your contacts list, why don't you ask him yourself?" Michiko started to walk away again. "And while you're at it, send your next in command in here so I can send the Wardens back to the front lines!"

After Michiko left the command building, she opened her player menu, and looked through her contacts list. Next to Kirito's name read one word: Blocked. She sighed, as she unblocked him, and sent a message. "What?" she asked.

A few minutes later, she got a reply. "Oh, good, you're done being angry at me over breaking up with you."

"I broke up with you!" she sent back.

"Then what's the problem?"

"I don't know. I kind of regret it, and I wish somehow I could have both you and Xaela."

"You're so weird. It wouldn't have lasted anyways. You know Asuna and I are back together, so I would have broken up with you."

"Asshole."

"Are you going to the Arena town?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," she wrote back. "It's a suicide mission. Are you trying to get us killed?"

"Not at all," Kirito wrote. "There will be someone very special waiting for you there."

"Who?"

"Not telling. Call it a break-up gift, and stop being silly about this."

"Okay. Out of respect for my love for you, I suppose I can trust you about this. I'll go. But you have to do something for me in return."

"This… this is something for you."

"Well I want more!"

"Bye."

"You, me… Xaela, Asuna… maybe Eulsam. We should all get together some time. Fun times. You know what I'm saying."

"You're insatiable. Get moving, that's an order."

"Asuna still wants to try it with a girl!" Michiko wrote back, joking around with him. "Am I write? Now's her chance! I'm really good with my tongue, Xaela can attest to that! So can you!"

"Please stop…"

* * *

><p>Asuna looked over Kirito's shoulder. He was sitting down on a rock as he typed out the messages back and forth with Michiko. She had just come up and he had yet to notice her standing there. "So…" she said after reading the last few messages. "Whacha doin?"<p>

Kirito jumped and quickly closed the message window. "Nothing! It's nothing," he said. "Michiko is just screwing with me, she always does that."

Asuna stood up straight, and turned her nose up to him. "Well, if you two still have feelings for each other, I suppose I shouldn't bother getting in the way."

"It's not like that!" Kirito said, getting up and hugging her from behind. She smiled back at him. "I love you, Asuna. I don't want you to think I'm letting anyone between us."

"Alright," Asuna said, turning around in his arms. "Just promise me you won't plan any crazy parties without me, okay?" She giggled as she broke away from the hug and started heading towards their destination. The sky all around them was clear, the sun setting in the distance.

"So," Klein said as he caught up with the two of them. "This is level ninety-nine. I imagined it'd be a lot… tougher."

"Well, Lily did say that a path had been cleared for us, so I didn't expect to walk into any monsters or traps," Leafa said. "It's a nice sneak preview though. When this thing ends, we'll all get back to clearing New Aincrad. We'll get the real challenge eventually."

The ninety-ninth floor wasn't that much different from the others, just smaller. They were in a huge city, and as they entered a central building, they pushed open a door that would have led to a boss room. At its center there was a blacked out figure. It had stats and all, but was in a frozen state, unmoving and not responding to the players.

"I wish we could see what these looked like in full color," Asuna said. "We could get some valuable intel from this trip."

"If we weren't on an important mission already, we'd be doing just that." Kirito kept moving, walking past the future boss without giving it a second glance.

When they emerged from the stairway, they found themselves coming into the final floor of Aincrad. It was a beautiful, picturesque landscape city. Marble statues lined a path of gold that went straight towards a castle in the distance. All around there was bright green grasses, flowers of all kinds, and huge, majestic trees. The sun shined bright here, despite the fact that it was supposed to be nearing nighttime.

The statues and trees were not the only things standing around here. In the sky, winged humanoids flew about, and one of them landed directly in front of the group. She wore bright, illuminated armor like the Valkyries of Vearth, and had a pair of magnificent, feathered wings and a bright halo around a golden player cursor. As she stood up, she held a spear tightly, and she smiled at the group. "Kirito," she said. "Long time, no see…"

Kirito looked on at the girl in front of him, completely silent for a moment. After that moment, he ran for her, and wrapped his arms around her back in a tight hug. "Sachi…" he said. "You left so soon when we met in the Nightmare Forest."

"I know," she said, hugging back briefly. "I had to go, it really wasn't in my hands. Sorry for that, I really did want to catch up."

Kirito stepped back from her. He turned to his friends, and introduced everyone. "Everyone, this is Sachi. We originally met in Sword Art Online, but she… she was killed after our guild walked into a trap."

"You've told us about her before," Klein said. He took a bow before the lady. "Nice to meet you, I'm Klein."

"I know who you all are," Sachi said. "We can watch the world down below from up high. And I've taken a special interest in you and your group, Kirito. I'm glad you were able to move on from what happened, and then you went on to end the game, how crazy is that?" She laughed a little. "Well, anyways… when Kayaba needed someone to come and greet you, I couldn't miss the opportunity!"

"I still don't quite understand how all of the survivors and… not survivors of Sword Art Online can be so friendly with him now," Asuna said.

"There are many of us who are not," Sachi said. "But it's been a while, and death has a way of changing one's perspective. All of the worries of life have just… drifted away. He accepts the blame for what he did, but to those of us who now take his side, we have let the past go in the light of a new, glorious future."

"What future?" Sinon asked. "You're never getting out of the game world. Even if you can live forever in here, don't you miss the real world?"

"Every day," Sachi said. "But technology is advancing so fast that soon, I might be able to reach out to my loved ones."

"The same way we brought Yuuki into the real world again," Asuna said. "And Yui as well…"

Sachi nodded, and turned to point down the golden path. "Are you ready to meet the final boss of Aincrad?"

Kirito nodded, and ran down the path. The others followed, and Sachi flew on ahead of them. "Sachi," Kirito said as he ran. She slowed down and glided along next to him. "Lily mentioned that Kayaba had reinforcements waiting for us… I think I've already figured it out. It's you, isn't it?"

Sachi nodded. "Yep," she said. "We are the Angels of Aincrad, and we'll be going straight from here to Paradise Island when the time comes. We'll have to work fast, or else GothGod will manipulate the system to keep us out of the game, which is why we couldn't come to the rescue sooner than now."

* * *

><p>When Michiko, Xaela and Doc arrived at the Arena Town in the Dune Sea, Red Hand flags whipped in the wind, atop buildings. The sky above the town had been cleared of ashes, and the moonlight shined down on the small city. The corpses of Red Hand players littered the ground though, and the three met no troubles entering the city.<p>

"What the hell happened here?" Xaela asked.

Doc saw a winged figure at the center of the town, gutting a struggling Red Hand survivor, killing him. The figure looked over at the group, and smiled. "Michiko!" she said, flying towards the Black Warden and hugging her.

"L-lily?" Michiko asked. "Is that really you?"

She broke the hug and went over to Xaela to give her a hug as well, who was completely confused by the gesture. "Who are you?"

"Yes," Lily said. "It's really me. And you're Xaela, it's nice to meet you up close."

"You did… all of this?" Doc asked, looking around.

"Well, I had help," Lily said. Another group of winged players all approached them. Among them were Crystal, Amberol and Asuna's alternate timeline double. "These are my friends," Lily continued. "We are the Valkyries of Vearth, an elite guild of the fallen Valkyrie class players."

"The dead are walking before our eyes…" Doc said as he looked around at the players. "Are either of you not scared right now?"

"You don't have to be afraid," Crystal said. "We're on your side. But I understand your concern, as a former member of the guild we're slaughtering…"

"Wait," Xaela said, looking at Lily. "This is… your sister, Michiko? Lily?"

Michiko nodded. "I saw her once before, but… I didn't expect something like this."

"What do you mean once before?" Xaela asked.

"I thought it was just a ghost or something… some part of the game."

Lily smiled and shook her head. "Nope, it's the real me, in the virtual flesh. Speaking of last time, how are things going?" Lily shot a quick glance to Xaela before turning back to Michiko.

Michiko choked for a moment, and nodded. "They're going… just…"

"I'll keep quiet for now…" Lily said.

Xaela looked at the two of them, utterly lost. "What was that look for?"

"Don't worry about it," Michiko said. "So… what are you doing here?"

"We're going to end this war, and then we're going to help end this game," Amberol said. "Half of us have come here, and half of us are on the western front. With our help, we're going to push the Red Hand back to their little island, and then we'll lay siege to it."

"Why though?" Xaela asked. "I mean… why now? Clearly you've been around for a while, so why the hold up in coming to the rescue?"

"It's complicated," Lily said. "A bunch of un-killable ghosts of players coming in and ripping this game a new one sets off a lot of alarms. If we did it while Laughing Coffin was still operating on the outside, we couldn't have stopped them from shutting us down. If we acted too soon with GothGod having admin access, he could have nuked us."

"Last I checked," Doc said. "He still does. So aren't you in danger now?"

Lily nodded. "Yes," she said. She was smiling. "But what fun danger is! If we die in this world, we'll simply reappear in a virtual heaven. He may stop us from returning, but the one who sent us has more where we came from. We can march in and rain a holy firestorm on this world and if they take us out, they still have a whole other army waiting to swoop into the rescue. And now that we're so close to ending that threat, we can take the risk of our own involvement."

"Why only us three?" Michiko asked. "Why couldn't we bring others? I'm sure they'd love to hear the news."

"We can trust you," Asuna said. "And there are a few we can trust in the west. Despite being active on this world, the longer we can stay hidden, the better. When we fly in and take out Red Hand bases, we'll kill everyone before word gets out. But if agents of GothGod were playing the part of allies, they could warn him, and he would send us out of this world."

"What about the slaves?" Doc asked. "The slaves that the Red Hand has? And the revolutionaries in their ranks?"

"That concerns me as well," Xaela said. "There are innocents and allies in their ranks. Are you killing them too?"

"The Red Hand has killed all remaining slaves on the mainland," Lily said. "We have witnessed this event. They fear further uprisings. They've rooted out already almost all of the hidden revolutionaries. We know who is innocent and who is not. We understand the way the Red Hand works and if it were up to us, we would take them prisoners instead of killing them, and try to cure them of their madness. But we are under orders, and this is a war. We send a warning to those we know are innocent or are part of the revolution. We hijack Pegasus and send it through that so that they do not know who warned them. If they don't leave, then their deaths are on their own hands."

"That's brutal," Michiko said.

"You follow the same philosophy," Amberol said. "We have watched you and your Wardens act without mercy or forgiveness when fighting player-killers."

"But not on this scale," Michiko said. "I'm not sure how I feel about this."

"For those who die," Crystal said, "What remains of their soul will find its way to the same place we did. In death, the worries and sins of life are washed away in the wake of new life. It may take time for them to adjust, but they will. In the end, things will work out. You'll just have to trust us on that one."

"But if death doesn't matter to you," Xaela said. "Then why help at all? Why not just let us die?"

"Defeating GothGod matters," Amberol said. "The Black Prophet threatens us as well, and we have to stop him. As long as this… afterlife exists, death loses all of its power. But if GothGod wins, then he will turn what we call heaven into hell."

"Michiko," Lily said. "We need you to tell Eulsam to order all of his forces away from the towns we attack. One by one, they will fall. We will take them out, and once the mainland is clear, you can set your sights on Paradise Island."

"What's so important on Paradise Island?" Michiko asked.

"When the time comes," Lily said. "We will tell you these things."

* * *

><p>"Paradise Island is a fortress," Heathcliff said. The group had arrived at the final castle, and Heathcliff stood at the foot of a red throne, dressed in shining armor and bearing a set of six wings. "The city was built around a dormant volcano not different from the one that once lied beneath the Temple of Gaea. Its purpose is to act as a home base for the Red Hand, on the surface, but the leadership knows something far more valuable lies beneath the city's grounds."<p>

"Another volcano?" Asuna said. "If it blows…"

"Yes, former Vice Commander," Heathcliff said. "It would be exactly that, another shattering killing thousands of players. I will not see it happen, though, not with your help."

"What's down there?" Kirito asked.

"When you cleared the Temple of Fire, you remember Pyyraus mentioning releasing the god of fire?"

"Yeah," Klein said. "And she did, didn't she? We took him out though, that giant fire snake."

Heathcliff shook his head. "I must tell you two things. First, I am the one who designed the Temple of Fire. I manipulated the game's programming to put it in. Second… the Temple of Fire was a disguise, and it was part of my plan. The god of fire, Salamandraus, is like Gaea. He represents some core aspect of the system's programming."

"Wait," Kirito said. "You made the Temple of Fire? How many people did you kill with it, hmm?"

"It was necessary," Heathcliff said. "You finished what I started, as intended. When you cleared the final boss, Salamandraus was not defeated, but rather, he was released into the world, a core piece of programming turn manifest into this world. Now, he can be destroyed, and his programming along with it."

"Didn't killing Mother Earth cause the shattering?" Kirito asked. "Destroying Salamandraus seems like a bad idea…"

"Gaea was the manifestation of the seed itself. That is why killing her caused the shattering. All of the virtual worlds were dismantled, and fell to the world, and then this world itself suffered a heavy blow. Killing Salamandraus will be different. Gaea represented the world itself, Salamandraus is the system's firewall. Once Salamandraus is defeated, we will be able to activate the Heart of the Earth, and remove GothGod's administrator powers."

"Won't it remove yours too, though?" Asuna asked.

"No," he said. "I lost administrator privileges a few moments after GothGod gained them. I didn't have them when Laughing Coffin was in control either. The short window of time where I was in control was not enough to deal a significant blow to this game. I have no control over the system, which is why everything has been running so slowly from my end."

"So," Kirito said. "Salamandraus is what lies beneath Paradise Island. And we have to take him out. How hard will that be?"

"The epic dungeon beneath the Island will be on par with Tartarus in terms of player challenge. It won't be easy, and the final boss, Salamandraus, will be the most powerful enemy you will face in this game."

"An epic dungeon," Klein stepped forward. "So multiple bosses. What else are we going to see down there?"

"The worst of the worst," Heathcliff said. "There will be more fire serpents like the final boss of the Temple of Fire, great and powerful demon lords, the spirits of the dragons of Smuldur's time… It's going to take everything we've got. I'm saving my angels for when you are ready to enter the dungeon. You'll need to bring your strongest allies. But first, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Paradise Island has to be conquered."

"That also won't be an easy task," Kirito said.

"As we speak, the Valkyries of Vearth are aiding in the fight on the mainland. They will be there in the final siege of the island," Heathcliff said. "I also foresee… another ally."

"Another ally?" Leafa asked.

* * *

><p>In the far east, where the mountains trailed on past the ashen sky, Lisbeth, Sampson and Silica ventured forth into the depths of a huge cavern. "Lisbeth," Sampson said. "Are you sure about this?"<p>

"Yeah," Silica said. "Last time you saw him, he put you under one hell of a spell."

Lisbeth nodded, and kept walking forward. "I'm sure about it. There's no need to worry."

"I have to," Sampson said, gripping his axe. "He is dangerous…"

"It's true, he still wants me. He wants to see dragons rule the world, but… I'm willing to be that without the Sands of Time to aid that endeavor, he's patient. And there's also someone I think he'll want a lot more than me…"

They continued on through dark, warm corridors until they reached a huge opening in the cavern. Dragons swarmed around it, and down the pit, there was a massive, sleeping dragon. Lisbeth stepped to the edge of the cliff looking down at him. "Smuldur!" she shouted. "I have come to speak!"

The cavern rumbled as the massive dragon woke, and raised his head to face the Dragon Queen. "Lisbeth," he said. "My queen has returned… and with friends?" He leaned his head towards Sampson and Silica. "I appreciate the gesture, but I've already eaten today. Perhaps we can save them for tomorrow."

"You know I'm not interested in being your queen any longer," Lisbeth said back to him.

Smuldur looked back at her and growled. "What then, have you come here for? Already, the scent of my magic fills your lungs, and it is working on you. Standing in my presence makes you weak, and makes you turn back to me in your heart."

"Despite our history," Lisbeth said. "I've come to get my children back."

Smuldur laughed at her, and the swarm of dragons all landed around the party. Silica and Sampson held their weapons tight. Lisbeth hadn't even drawn her own. "You've come here to kill me?" he asked. "With so few? You will die."

"No," Lisbeth told him. "I've come to arrange a deal."

"What deal?" Smuldur asked her. "Is there a bargain I would take over your flesh?"

"I'm willing to bet that there is," she said. "Someone you desire between your teeth more than me."

Smuldur looked down at her. "Name them…"

"GothGod."

The dragon blinked. The rest of them all left the cliff and went back to their other perches. "A name I had hoped not to hear again," Smuldur said. "GothGod lives despite the destruction of the world?"

"GothGod was the destruction of the world," Lisbeth said. "And he is our enemy as well as yours. We can kill him together."

Smuldur raised his huge wings, and was about ready to take off. "I can kill him alone. I will do this if you stay with me, as my queen." Lisbeth shook her head. "Then we have no deal."

"You cannot kill him," Lisbeth said.

"Why is this?" Smuldur asked, baring his teeth to the group.

"GothGod has taken the Fruit of—" Sampson started to speak, only to have Smuldur roar loudly at him.

"I did not ask you, mortal!"

"GothGod has become a god," Lisbeth said. "He slayed Mother Earth, and ate from the Fruit of Knowledge, and he used that knowledge to gain tremendous power."

"Tell me, where is he, and I will show him what true power is."

"You have already died once," Lisbeth said. "I do not ask for your help in the matter, personally. I ask for my children back. An army of dragons will help our attack. Let me have them, and I swear I will return them to you once we are finished. When we are finished, GothGod will be weakened, and we'll leave him for you."

Smuldur thought for a moment, and then nodded. "We have a deal, my queen."

* * *

><p>As Kirito was catching up with Sachi outside in the castle gardens, he got a message. "What is it?" Sachi asked.<p>

"I thought you already knew this kind of stuff," Kirito said.

"Only what I see, and I'm not watching anything right now," she said.

Kirito read the message and stood up. "It's Lisbeth. She says we have an army… an army of dragons." He raced back inside, where he met with Asuna and the others, who were all spending time talking to old friends from Sword Art Online. "Lisbeth got back to us!" he shouted. "She says she's collected a few thousand dragons, and wants a heading."

Heathcliff rose up from his throne, and sent out a message to his Valkyries. A moment later, the returned back to him. "They are ready," he said. "Tell your friend to fly with her arm straight to Paradise Island. The end of the Red Hand is now."

"We will head that way too," Kirito said.

"No," Heathcliff spoke to him. He cast a spell, and a portal opened up in the center of the room. "Take this portal. It will bring you straight to the southeastern coastline, where you'll meet with your armies. The Valkyries will travel separately, and attack the island the moment you arrive. Once you've gained access to the dungeon, I will go there myself, along with my angels. This is the beginning of the end, Kirito. Prepare for one of your final assaults: the Paradise Island Raid."

Kirito nodded, and his group left through the portal.

* * *

><p>GothGod sat on his throne in the city of Newberg. In front of him were screens, screens with various things displayed. He was browsing the internet from within the game, a task only he could do at this point. He was looking through various handbooks and guides for role-playing games of the past when he landed a Dungeons and Dragons guidebook. "Hmm," he said reading through it. "This looks interesting."<p>

His Death Oath were all around the throne room, doing whatever they pleased. Some had dragged in mind controlled players, and among them, some were being made to engage in lewd acts, and others were merely being used as mindless drones to play various little games with. Here, the Death Oath were in the flesh, as if still alive. "What's interesting?" a female voice rang off. It came from a girl who looked to be two to three years younger than the Black Prophet. She was dressed in black, with a corset and dress, and other fanciful clothes that covered most of her body.

GothGod swiped the screen to the side, and it flew over in front of the girl's face. "What's this?"

"It's from an older handbook from that old pen and paper game, DND," he said. "It's a book of Elder Evils, basically final bosses."

"Final… wait, you intend to end the game so soon, Cory?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Of course not, not until we've all had our fun. Maybe in a few years… then we'll start a new game after that. But nonetheless, I am the inevitable final boss of Vearth. I was thinking something like one of these…"

"It should match your actual story as much as possible. Creating a fake character for you to play would be an insult to your legacy, don't you think?" She swiped the screen back.

He nodded. "True… true," he said as he continued looking through the list. "Oh wait, this one's doable…" She listened eagerly as he started reading. "The Worm that Walks… the gist of it is… it's kind of basically like a Lich, except instead of an undead type, with bones and rotting flesh and all that, it's an aberration formed from flies, worms and maggots that eat the body of the slain mage."

"Gnarly…"

He put the screens away, and stood up. "Enough of this…" he said. He took the girl by the hand, and led her along towards a hallway. "We'll be back later, everyone." The girl didn't protest, and just followed him along. "Can you use that hair dye I gave you?"

She nodded, and pulled out an item. After activating it, her blonde hair turned red. "Why do you want me to look like her?"

"Do you know who she is?"

"No… I mean, I have an idea, but I don't know for certain. I thought you wanted to kill her though, not fuck her."

"Sometimes the two are one in the same," he said. He chuckled at her. "With my powers, we could actually try that… for fun. Interested?"

* * *

><p>Kirito and his group emerged through the portal on the shores south of the Black Bog. There, Michiko and Eulsam met with him. "Kirito!" Eulsam said as he approached. "We've only got so many ships," he said. "We'll be loading them up to capacity, but we'll be pretty vulnerable on the water. I'll follow your command as I promised, but I have to say… this isn't the best plan. We've fought them back. Why do we need to go all the way to their home base?"<p>

Kirito nodded to him. "I know it seems like overkill, but there's something important out there. I can't tell you with so many players around," he said. "But it's part of our primary objective in ending the game."

"We can trust him," Michiko said. "I don't know what he's up to exactly, but I know we've got someone pretty high up looking out for us."

"The same person who cleared the Red Hand bases before we reached them?" Eulsam asked. "For an unknown variable to have that kind of power… worries me. As long as it's in our favor, I suppose I shouldn't question it."

"Asuna," Michiko said as the players started to walk towards the boat. "Did Kirito pitch my idea to you?"

Kirito went pale, and stepped between the two of them. "No ideas need to be pitched here."

"Xaela's down for it."

"Did you actually ask Xaela?" Kirito said.

"Nope, but she loves me, so she's down for anything I ask her to do," Michiko said.

"I saw your messages, Michiko," Asuna said. "No offense, but could you step off? Kirito and I are engaged. We have a daughter. I don't like you flirting with my fiancé."

"Is this really the best time—" Kirito started to object to the whole conversation, only to be cut off.

"Oh, I'm not asking you to be unfaithful in any way," Michiko said. "There's never been anything wrong with a little free love, right? I mean… you guys pretty much did that up and down over the past year and a half."

Asuna stopped, and went behind Kirito to pull Michiko aside. "We got back together like… yesterday, okay? I don't think we need the tension of some big swinger's party on our relationship. I don't mind the joking around and all, but now is really not the time to try and step between us, okay?"

Michiko sighed, and nodded. "Okay, I guess I'm getting a little carried away," she said. "I'll go back to leaving you alone." She walked on ahead of the two of them, and caught up to Xaela.

"Asuna," Kirito said. "You don't have to be so uptight about it. Michiko isn't going to come between us like that. Could you just try to be nice to her?"

"I'll be nice once we're out of here and I can see my baby girl again," she said.

"I know, but… she's our friend, and an ally. And we're about to invade a murder guild's headquarters. We should all be getting along. Like… I haven't had any issue with Eulsam since we've gotten back together. I guess I'm just trying to say that… you're acting jealous, and it's not necessary. It screams insecurity about our relationship."

"Okay, I'm being jealous. So what? Don't I have a right to be jealous? You were screwing her, after all… Every time we're together, you're doing something with me that you picked up from your time with her." Asuna blushed as she thought about it, glancing back to Michiko as she went down to the shore. "It's a little embarrassing."

"What is?" Kirito asked her.

"We went off and had our flings, and you brought something back to show for it. It's like you went to the University of Michiko and came back with a degree in the erotic arts. Where did she learn all that stuff?" Asuna started to wonder how the other girl, who appeared to be a bit younger than herself, could have gotten so much experience.

"She learned it from being a sex slave," Kirito said, quite bluntly. "And that's why she acts the way she acts. She was broken down and subjected to some pretty harsh punishment. Something like that would change anyone. Please remember that she's been through a lot, not just in last four years, but in the last ten. Her sister finally woke up from Sword Art Online, only to be killed in the first month of gameplay here right in front of her eyes…"

Asuna thought about that for a moment. "I get it," she said. "She's suffered more than either of us have, and so I need to cut her some slack. How old is she anyways?"

"I don't know… she never wanted to tell," Kirito said.

"And it doesn't make me any less jealous, Kirito. You'll have to teach me how to be an amazing lover now to make up for it."

Kirito shrugged, and started walking down to the shore. Asuna followed. "I didn't learn much about pleasuring men," he said with a chuckle. "Maybe you should consider her offer and take a trip to the U of M too."

Asuna blushed and pushed at him playfully. "I will do no such thing!"

"Why not?" Kirito asked, joking. "I wouldn't have any problems at all watching you with another girl. Sounds pretty fun…" She shoved at him again, and they pushed back and forth as they approached the boats.

"Stupid Kirito," Michiko said. It was the first thing she said when she caught up to Xaela.

"I thought you said you trusted him about the plan," Xaela said.

"Not that…"

"Oh," Xaela looked down and then back to Michiko. "About the other thing, then?"

"Yes, the other thing." Michiko sighed and looked up at the ashen sky. She held her arms crossed over her breasts. "It's stupid… now that I can't have him, I want him even more." Xaela looked back down at the ground, not saying any more. Michiko realized what she said, and pulled the girl into a hug. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way… I love you."

"I love you too," Xaela said as she hugged back. "I wish you would just stop caring about him. Aren't I enough for you?"

Michiko nodded. "Yeah… I mean… I guess so. I don't know. While I was with him, I felt like I was missing something, and that that something was you. Now that I'm with you, I feel like I'm missing him. But there's nothing in particular about either of you that really makes me feel fulfilled. I just have something missing."

Xaela pressed her head into Michiko's shoulder. "You talk that way a lot. It makes me feel like you don't love me. You say you love me, but you don't make me feel loved sometimes."

Michiko leaned back against her. "If we get some time alone on the way to Paradise Island, I'll show you all kinds of love."

"Were you like that before?" Xaela asked.

"Was I like what before?" She stood up straight as she kept walking. "And before what?"

"Were you always more interested in sex… the physical manifestation of love… than you were in actually connecting with people on a personal level? And before as in… before… before when we first met. I've talked about it with you now, but I don't think I've ever heard you talk about it."

"There's not much to talk about. I put my freedom on the line for the greater good, and I had to go through some pretty shitty things before it all worked out. I sacrificed, and after my sacrifice, I went back to my normal life."

"Normal?"

"Well… normal for here. It feels like forever ago."

"Was that your first time?" Xaela asked. "It was my first…"

Michiko shuddered, and nodded. "Luckily, I'll wake up a virgin. They can't take that away from me in here. You will too, then. We get to hit a reset button on ourselves. Won't that be nice?"

"You think we're going to wake up one day and forget everything bad that happened, and remember all the good." Michiko didn't say anything about that. "Michiko, that's not going to happen. We're going to wake up, I'll still be without a family, and your sister will still be dead. We'll both still be murderers. None of that will change."

Michiko stopped, and looked at her. Xaela stopped with her, and looked back. "I know that," she said. "But my sister is alive. You saw her too!"

"That doesn't change the fact that her body has likely already been buried," Xaela said. "This… right now… it's not a dream. We won't just forget it. But I want to know… were you like this before we met… before your sister died… before this game?"

Michiko shook her head and kept on walking. "No, I was younger then. I grew up here, no different than growing up in the real world."

"Except you grew up a vigilante who cut the heads off of murderers and subjected herself to sexual torture. When we get out of here," Xaela said. "We'll both be in for years of therapy. The damage done to our very souls will never be undone."

"Not I," Michiko said. "This world made me strong, not weak."

"Is that what you will tell yourself every morning as you look yourself in the face, and see the last face that so many players saw? Will you not see the face of your former self, bloody and beaten into submission? Won't you look at yourself, and give yourself the look that you gave to your worst enemies?"

As memories raced through her head, Michiko went silent. After a few moments, she said "No," and kept walking onwards.

"I have nightmares," Xaela said as she kept up with her. "I have one where I wake up next to you, and you're dead, and my right hand is painted red. I have another one where I'm trapped in that room, and I'm being told to stab you over and over again until you die. There's one where I am being dragged around in chains through blood, and when I get out of the pool, I look behind me to see that I have dragged you with me. But the scariest one I have is the one where I am kneeling down before you, and you cut off my head."

"I would never—" Michiko started to speak, but Xaela stopped her.

"I remember when what you said to me was that you promised you would kill me," Xaela said. "And now, when we talk, it's like you've forgotten. When you think about Kirito, and when you think about me, and what you're missing… you are missing a piece of your soul that you left behind the first time you killed someone. I know because I lost the same piece when I went into that room and left you nearly dead."

"Shut up," Michiko said as she went ahead of her. "I love you, I would never hurt you. What I promised doesn't make any difference."

"You'll never fill that hole in your heart," Xaela said. "Not unless you break down. You broke me down and you helped me start to fill that hole back up, but you're the one who fills it. I need you to love me… Otherwise, I feel empty."

Michiko pulled Xaela over and pushed her against a tree next to the shore. She pushed herself onto her and forced her into a kiss. Xaela pushed back against her. After it was over, Michiko looked up and down her body. "I love you…" she said. "Why don't you believe me?"

Xaela looked at her, and then relaxed, in a state of defeat. "Do it," she said. "Take your revenge on me for what I did to you… if that's what it takes for you to see that this… is not love, then so be it. Do you want me to fight back?"

"Uhh, Michiko?" Kirito said. He and Asuna had caught up, and were watching them with a strange sense of fear. "Are you okay?"

Michiko looked at Xaela again, and then to her own position. Xaela was up on her toes and Michiko's hand was holding her up by her jaw. Her other hand was pressing rather hard into her chest. She let go, and stepped back. "Go away," she said as she turned and started down the sand towards the ship. She pulled her famed helmet from her inventory, and put it on, her name changing to Mokatso.

"Xaela," Asuna approached her. "Are _you_ okay?"

Xaela nodded, and rubbed her throat before taking a deep breath. "Michiko has unresolved issues," she said. "I can handle her…"

* * *

><p>When Kirito's eastern fleet approached Paradise Island, the battle had already begun. Ships were scattered around the island, fighting a naval battle, but that paled in comparison to the siege that an army of dragons was laying on the town.<p>

"Did we miss all the fun?" Klein asked as he looked out over the water. Kirito and Asuna stepped up to the front of the ship to watch the battle they were closing in on.

Lisbeth flew down from the sky, and landed next to the group. "Welcome to the battle, guys. How nice of you to join us."

"We came as fast as we could," Asuna said. "I guess dragons fly faster." She looked out in the distance. "Has the invasion begun, or are you just firebombing them to death?"

"We've been waiting for you," Lisbeth said. "There's still like fifteen hundred Red Hand combatants on the Island, which is fortified. Klover insisted on keep them from escaping while waiting for you to arrive."

Eulsam moved up to the front with them. "Then I suppose it's time to commence the invasion," he said. "Kirito…"

"You're the strategist," Kirito said. "What's the plan?"

"Have Klover divide his forces in two. They will each attack the back edges of the island, and push inland from there. We will attack head on, moving straight into the largest part of the city."

"We've seen their main docks before," Asuna said. "We'll know how to make our way towards the stronghold at the town's center."

"Lisbeth," Eulsam said. "Have the dragons finish off their ships, and then lay down suppressing fire on the town while we approach. Once we land, have them drop down and fight with melee attacks. We don't want our guild getting caught by friendly fire." Lisbeth flew back up into the sky, and started to organize her dragons.

"Do we have any ice-based mages here?" Eulsam asked. The group shrugged. Eulsam stepped back down to the main deck and shouted to the fleet. "Ice mages!" he shouted. "Front and center!" A few of the players moved ahead, separating themselves so Eulsam could see them. "We're going to attack the main docks. Cover the fronts of the ships in ice and snow so we can use them like battering rams, and crash into the shore before they get a chance to fire at us. Water and wind, get us some speed going! The rest of you, prepare for battle!"

Eulsam moved back to the front of the ship, where Kirito and the others stood. "Are we ready for this?" Kirito asked.

Asuna drew her spear and shield. "No," she said. She activate her Valkyrie State, and grabbed Kirito's hand. She flew off and towards the island, the two of them together would lead the charge.

Asuna landed with Kirito on the docks, where Red Hand were trying to move heavy weapons to their boats. Immediately, they began to fight, the two of them knocking enemies off the docks and cutting them down as they made their way forward.

"That was not part of the plan," Eulsam said as he watched them fly off. "Everyone, get these ships moving, now!" The spell casters acknowledged, and started forcing the ships to move faster. Ice armored the front of the vessels, and they barreled through the water. While they were on the approach, Red Hand ships started to turn to attack, but one by one, they were laid to waste in a rain of fire and death, courtesy of the flying reptiles over their heads.

The ships crashed into the docks. Some of them tore right through them, and ran right into the ground. Players stormed from the boats, and started moving up towards the main part of the city. The sky started to become devoid of dragons as they dove down, taking the fight to the surface.

Lisbeth, Sampson and Silica joined Kirito in the battle. As Red Hand players approached to fight, Lisbeth started using every limb to lash out at enemies. Sampson went into a Bull Rage, and started to cut down the army. Silica roared out loudly, as she started to change shape, transforming into a super-sized bear. Kirito looked up at the bear named Silica. "Since when can you do that?" he shouted. All he got back was a loud growling sound.

Asuna turned her Valkyrie state off, and Kirito stepped back as the three monsters of players wiped up the trash of Red Hand soldiers. The two of them moved forward behind them, collecting the ones who managed to slip past the rampaging players, killing them as the charge moved up the city streets towards the fortress on the side of the small mountain.

The players that hit the shore were moving up fairly quickly, and Eulsam mounted a horse to charge through the streets and meet up with Kirito and the others. Klein, Leafa, Michiko, Xaela and Doc followed behind. Sinon mounted her pagasus, and flew into the air, picking off targets from afar.

Soon enough, Silica was turned back into a human, and Sampson reverted to his normal form as well. Asuna ran back to the front of the line, tanking side-by-side with Lisbeth. Eulsam donned a sword and shield, and joined them as a tank after dismounting. Kirito, Sampson and Xaela stayed near the front, killing the majority of players who were mostly stopped by the three tanks. Silica, Michiko and Klein watch the back, Michiko acting as a pseudo-tank and Klein using his Quickdraw abilities to score quick and easy kills. Leafa and Doc were in the middle of the group, dishing out heals while they moved.

"How's your mana?" Kirito asked the party.

"Mana at seventy percent!" Leafa shouted.

"Forty percent," Asuna said.

"Sixty percent," Lisbeth spoke after.

"Sixty something!" Doc shouted.

Kirito fell back to the middle. He stopped fighting to send a message to Klover. He got a response back shortly after. "Lisbeth!" he shouted. "Turn on your Paladin mode and charge on ahead. Take as many with you as you can. Eulsam!" Kirito looked at Eulsam, only to see he was ahead of him. Eulsam pulled out dual swords. "Asuna, Valkyrie! Fly with Lisbeth. Everyone else, we're making a break for the keep!"

Lisbeth went first. She glowed orange, and ran ahead, hitting players with a smack of her wings or her tail, and carried a horde of Red Hand with her. Asuna flew on towards her after the charge began, and with her Lightning Flash ability, she attacked the mass of players from behind while she moved on up. The rest of the group ran behind them as fast as they could, killing stragglers as they made their way to the gates of the Red Hand headquarters.

When they reached the gates, they tried to break through, but were stricken with powerful magic that knocked them back. "The gate's been enchanted," Doc said. "I can break it if you can hold them off for a few moments." Doc went forward, and pulled out a bucket of what appeared to be black paint. He dipped his hand in it, and started drawing a symbol on the doors.

The rest of the players turned around. Eulsam pulled a shield out again, and the three tanks each positioned themselves around the players, prepared to guard them. Dozens of Red Hand were on the approach. "We can take them," Eulsam said. "Hold your ground…"

"We may not have to," Michiko said, pointing towards the distance. Klove led a drove of players towards them, and they clashed with the charging Red Hand. A few moments later, Doc stepped back from his work, and started speaking a non-existent language, holding his hand out to the door. There was a bright flash. The air around the fortress suddenly appeared as a large bubble, and it was deteriorating quickly.

"Lisbeth," Kirito said. "Have a few dragons clear the courtyard." She nodded, and flew up into the sky. A moment later, a wave of dragons flew over the fortress, and fire fell from their mouths to the ground. It was followed by loud, panicked screams. After that, the players all barged into the courtyard, and fanned out.

At the other end of the courtyard, a very dumbfounded Talia shivered in her boots as she gripped her sword tight with fear. The players started to charge for her, and the few guards she had remaining. They looked at her, and she at them, and then she fell to her knees, dropping her weapon, and threw her hands up. "We surrender!" she shouted. "You've won, it's over."

The players slowed and then stopped their charge. Kirito kept walking, approaching Talia. He held his two Elucidators out to her. "Open your player menu, and send the news out to your guild. Tell them to lay down their arms, drop to their knees, and raise their hands to the sky." Talia nodded, and did just that.

"Now," she said. "The conditions of our surrender."

"Unconditional," Kirito said. "Paradise Island is ours. Everyone in the Red Hand is now a prisoner of the Champions of Vearth. Any slaves you have on the island are free as of now." He stopped for a moment, and then turned to his group. "Restrain them…"

Michiko was the first to move forward, and then the rest of the players all went and bound the surrendering players' hands behind their backs. "Where do you want them?" Michiko asked.

Kirito shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. I didn't think they'd give up."

"Where is your guild commander," Klover asked. "Talia… we know you're the second in command. Where is your commander?"

"I don't know," Talia said. "He was in Newberg last I heard from him. He probably died in the shattering."

"If that were the case," Asuna said. "Then you would have automatically been moved up in rank."

Talia got a message. She had yet to be bound, and Kirito nodded to her. She opened her player menu and read it aloud. "From Guild Commander Taravel: Talia is stripped of her rank. Any Red Hand who surrenders will be uninvited from the guild, and be made to suffer later. Keep fighting. Paradise Island must not fall."

"If anyone fights," Klover said. "Kill them!" Those who were once members of his guild all cheered, and started to storm the keep in front of them. Many also went back into the city. "Anything you find here, if you want it, take it. Harm no surrendering Red Hand, but from those who fight, take whatever you will!"

"Klover," Kirito said. "I hope you don't intend for them to take things too far."

"The Red Hand are rapists, slave drivers and murderers," Michiko said. She had no objection to Klover's order. "If after all of this, they choose to fight, then they deserve everything that comes to them."

"I wish I had the resolve to share your mercy, Kirito," Klover said. "But mercy is not something that my guild has ever known, especially not when facing players like those in the Red Hand."

"Mercy is what makes us different from them," Kirito said. "If anyone is harmed unnecessarily, I'm holding you responsible."

"Do whatever you must," Klover said. "We are banded together now, but know that if it came down to it, I have more soldiers and support than you. Let me command those from the Frozen Army as I always have, and there will be no such confrontation."

"It's not a time to argue over the little things," Eulsam said. "Kirito, isn't it about time you told us what's coming next?"

Kirito nodded to them. "Soon," he said. "Gather up a hundred of the highest level players, in addition to those in my core party. Have everyone else leave this courtyard, and we will meet here. Our next objective is going to be far more straight-forward than fighting a war against players."

As Klover and Eulsam starting going through their guild members lists, the rest of the players began to disband from the fortress's courtyard. While that was happening, Valkyries started to fly in, landing around the courtyard. Lily, their commander, approached Kirito. "Sorry we're late," she said. "It took us a little bit longer to clear out the surrounding islands than we thought. Looks like you did fine though."

"How many have we lost, waiting for the dead to save us?" Klover asked.

"That won't matter," Lily said. "You'll just have to trust us on that. We're here now, and soon, our master will arrive."

"Your master?" Klover asked.

"Hai," Kirito said. "Heathcliff, or as you may know him better, Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online."

Klover looked at him. "Kayaba… is alive… and he's on our side?"

"It's a long story," Asuna said.

Not a moment too soon, a portal opened up, and through it stepped Heathcliff himself, followed by Sachi, Diabel, and a small troop of the Angels of Aincrad. "Have you begun to assemble your forces?" he asked Kirito directly. Klover and a few of the other players from his own inner circle all looked at the man, stunned. Eulsam and the rest who hadn't yet seen the Angels or the Valkyries were also shocked.

"Yes," Kirito said. "We're sorting out our top one hundred as we speak, and we are awaiting your final briefing."

Heathcliff nodded to him, and started to move towards the keep. "Those who are the most trustworthy… your inner circles… come with me, and I will explain everything to you. Have everyone gathering who is not one of those most trustworthy stay here. Kirito will offer them a dumbed down version of what I will say to you in private."

Eulsam took a deep breath, and calmed his nerves. "Who are you all?"

"We are the Valkyries of Vearth," Lily said. "We're the ones who cleared out the Red Hand from the mainland for you."

"And we," Diabel said, looking directly at Eulsam. "Are the Angels of Aincrad." After a moment's pause, Diabel smiled. "How has it been, old friend?"

"I've managed," Eulsam said. "It's been hard working with these noobs, though. They're nothing like you and the others from our beta guild."

Kirito blinked, and took a step back. "Noobs? Beta Guild?"

"Yes, Kirito," Diabel said. "I probably should have mentioned the first time we met, but by the time you worked out that I was a beta tester, I was already dying. I was in the beta test guild that made it to the tenth floor. Eulsam was my second-in-command and chief strategist." He pointed back to Eulsam.

"Oh?" Kirito said. "I assume Eulsam was the leader of that guild."

Eulsam shook his head. "No… I was a strategist at heart, but Diabel was the one with the real leadership qualities. Everything I know about running a guild, I learned from him."

"Didn't learn too well," Diabel said before laughing. "You're a great leader, but perhaps a little on the harsher side of things. I remember watching your first meeting with Kirito. If you learned properly from me, you would have made friends then, instead of enemies." He started walking towards the building. "Now let's get going. Don't want to miss the briefing…"

With that, Kirito, Eulsam and Diabel walked into the central structure, behind the rest of the players who had gone ahead.


	39. Chapter 39: The Flames of Eternity

The players were in a meeting hall within the Red Hand keep, and all were sitting and watching as Heathcliff gave the briefing. All of Kirito's group was there, and so were about fifteen other players, including Klover and his inner circle. Diabel, Sachi and Lily were all also present, but they were already up-to-date so they would each assist in answering questions and explaining their part in the group.

The Red Hand strategy meeting hall had room for plenty, and Heathcliff had maps of the upcoming dungeons drawn out for all to see. "The Halls of Salamandraus is an epic dungeon comparable to Tartarus in terms of player challenge. It has a higher player cap however, of two hundred. The entrance of the dungeon lies beneath this citadel, and much like Tartarus, once we enter, we cannot leave. Teleportation magic is blocked and we'll be stuck there until we finish it. On the bright side, it also has a special brand of restrictions. Player messages can only be sent to other players inside of the dungeon, and messages cannot go out to any players who are not participating. That's good news because once we get in, the Valkyries of Vearth, and the Angels of Aincrad will be fighting in full force to clear it. So if there are any traitors among us when we enter, they won't be able to get the word out about either of the two guilds, or about our plan. Even now, I refuse to fully explain what we intend to do until we get inside."

"The most untrustworthy person I have ever met," Klover said. "Wants us to trust him."

"I'm not asking you to trust me," Heathcliff said. "I'm asking you to trust Kirito. He is aware of my plans, and he is leading this effort."

Klover looked at Kirito, and nodded slowly. "I'll never be comfortable going in blind like this, but him I can trust, and so I suppose I have no choice. Let's get to the strategy. What's down there?"

Heathcliff threw up a digital image into the air for all players to see. "This is a DM's handbook. It works in constant communication with the system controlling the game, and I can access all of the information about any monster, item or dungeon you can think of. If GothGod knew someone had this, he would remove it from the game. If he knew I, or the Angels of Aincrad or the Valkyries of Vearth were here, he would remove us as well. Be certain to let as few of your allies know what we have on our side. The mission before us is delicate. Moving on…" The image showed a fiery basilisk, like the one they fought in the Temple of Fire. "Fire Basilisks. These were first seen in the Temple of Fire, and there, one of them was a final boss. In the dungeon before us, there will be more than one. Sachi…"

Sachi stepped forward, and opened up a map file. It was a map of winding caverns, and they split near the labeled dungeon entrance into eight different tunnels. "My name is Sachi," she said. "I died in Sword Art Online, and as one of the Angels of Aincrad, I'll be your navigator for our excursion into the pits of hell. When we first enter, we'll split off into eight groups of twenty-five players each. These eight paths split, and then converge at the first gate. Down each of the paths, there is a piece of the key that opens the gate leading to the next boss room. Guarding each of the keys is not one, but two Fiery Basilisks. Those who participated in the Temple of Fire know how they work already."

"For those who don't know," Diabel spoke up. "I am Diabel, vice commander of the Angels of Aincrad. I am your combat mechanics guide for the dungeon. The Fiery Basilisks, which you are free to call giant flaming snakes or whatever else fits their description, are elementals. Elementals take reduced damage, as I'm sure you are aware, from all attacks except for an element directly countering them. That means water will be extremely helpful in fighting them. They are large creatures, and will crisscross over their own tails to create barriers and isolate players from one another. While they only attack with their heads, their burning bodies will be a source of constant damage for our players. When we engage them, our groups will be split up by the winding bodies of the elementals. Eulsam will head off general strategic advisement, but when we're in our groups of twenty-five, each group leader will be in charge of their own strategy."

Eulsam stood up, and spoke to the group. "The winding bodies of the elementals will split up your group. Last time we faced them, we also had a boss throwing fireballs at us the whole time, but it seems that won't be the case here. I think the best way to go about these fights would be to have the twenty-five-man groups stay as tightly packed as possible. If you get split off of the main group, don't panic, survive. Stay alive until the snakes move again, and rejoin the main group. One thing we learned from the Temple of Fire was that healers and other players trying to run to the rescue was a bad idea. Do not split off from the main group, it will only split everyone off more. When that happened in the Temple of Fire, two non-tanks got cornered by a snake head, and almost died." He looked to Kirito and Asuna, and then back to the crowd. "No heroics when fighting the snakes! It's solid strategy and planning that will get us through that fight."

"Along the way, we'll be facing more, smaller elementals," Diabel said. "These are mostly trash and should be easy kills. I suggest that your groups stop so that water sorcerers and healers can restore mana before fighting the snakes."

"Okay," Sachi said, moving the map image to focus on the next room. "Once the next room opens, we'll be going straight into the second boss fight. The room is huge, a semi-circle shape where we, the players will stay, and at the middle, a pit of magma."

"The boss here, Molten Titan," Diabel said. "Is a titanic elemental of molten rock and fire." He flipped the screen to display a huge elemental emerging from the pit of lava. All black player models appeared around it for size comparison. The monster looked to tower at least twenty stories high. "This fight will be an endurance challenge. The boss has more hit points than most of the other monsters we've seen to date. It will take a long time to wear it down. The boss has a constant aura of heat and embers that spans the room, damaging players. Its primary attacks are splashes and waves of molten lava. Melee players simply won't be able to avoid these attacks, and sometimes the strikes will shoot far out to the edge of the arena. This boss has two phases which it will cycle through throughout the battle. It can only be hit during the normal phase, and every twenty percent of its health dropped, it will enter its eruption phase for a full thirty seconds. During this time, it sinks into the magma, and hurls huge chunks of exploding, blazing rocks at our party. It also activates a fissure each time it returns, which opens up a small canyon going from the center to the edge. These fissures are permanent, and the bottoms are filled with lava. Falling down these pits is deadly. It gets worse, when he comes back up, and the fissures open, the ground shakes, and unless you've got acrobatics up high, it'll put you on your ass."

Eulsam tapped his chin, thinking of how to deal with the monster. Diabel waited for him to come up with a plan of attack. "As far as the melee range goes, melee attackers should cycle in two or three groups, so that whoever isn't being hit can retreat and be healed properly. We'll also need two or three groups of healers, all cycling their healing while the others restore mana. Diabel… the Angels of Aincrad all have permanent flight capabilities, right?"

"Sort of," Sachi said. "We can fly for a period of time, but then have to rest."

"That works. The Angels of Aincrad with us should leave the ground to avoid stumbling when he comes back up, and then they should fly in to pick up players they see falling into any opening fissures. Until then, they should all stay grounded to conserve flight capabilities for when we need them. We'll need to set aside fifteen to twenty mages capable of producing some form of shield for the eruption phase, and players should all group up around them."

"The room," Sachi said, interrupting. "Is huge. It's about the size of a town, and getting from one end to the other will be difficult."

"And we'll want to be able to keep players at appropriate distances to attack, heal, and retreat. I imagine its lava splashes are generally wide, so finding the right places to stand will be a challenge. We're definitely going to lose players in this battle." Eulsam looked to Lily. "I would prefer it if the first to go in at melee range were the Valkyries and the Angels, to avoid unnecessary loss of life."

"The Valyries of Vearth can be the first to lead the charge," Lily said. "We are all of the Valkyries in the game, except for Asuna, and Valkyries are a tanking class primarily, even though many of us use more damage or healing oriented abilities. We're also much higher in level. We would make good guinea pigs for everyone to get a feel for combat."

"Once they die in the dungeon," Heathcliff said. "They will not be able to re-enter and help us fight. This dungeon prevents additional reinforcements from entering at the gates."

"Duly noted," Eulsam said. "It's still better than sending in players, so that's what we're going to do. My hope is that they do not die. What's next?"

"Once the fight ends," Sachi said. "The lava will drain out, and we'll take a winding stairs down into the lower depths. There, things get dark, very dark. We'll need spell casters to provide light for us, but doing so will be a double-edged sword."

"The next series of trash mobs," Diabel chimed in. "Are undead, and demons. They will attack anyone who strikes up a light, so we'll need constant protection on our light sources. The area will also be difficult to navigate, even with maps of the place. There's going to be a lot of open space, and surprise drops. We'll have to move slowly."

Sachi displayed for the players a huge map full of cliffs and winding paths. "This is all in complete darkness," she said. "But also bear in mind that we will be wearing Prismatic Armor, which shines with light. It won't be bright enough to light our way, but it will help us keep the swarm of trash off of everyone else. At the end of the path is a huge gate. When we arrive, it will light up with purple flames, and beyond that…"

"Beyond that lies boss number three, the Demon Prince, Nher'sharam." Diabel flipped the display over to the next boss. It was relatively small for a boss. The figure was a dark, floating torso with wings, and four arms. Its body was detailed with purple flames. "Nher'sharam acts and looks like a player, but don't be fooled, it is a sentient AI. It takes on the player-boss class of Demon Swordsman, and, like Kirito, will dual wield swords. Except with four arms, he'll take it to a whole new level. His wings also make for good weapons, similar to a dragon's. He'll have a variety of black magic spells to throw at us, so be prepared. As a player-boss class, he's mastered demonology, witchcraft, chaos and unholy magic. Chaos… is second only to Divine magic."

Eulsam looked at the picture, and read through his stats. "Unlike a player…"

"Unlike a player," Diabel said. "He has high hit points, and simple critical strikes will not undo him."

Eulsam shook his head. "Kirito…" he said. "All you."

Kirito blinked, and stood up. He read through the stats, and thought about it for a few moments. "I…" He shrugged, and sat down. "I don't see how we're going to beat him."

"Sounds like a lot of players are going to die," Klover said. "I'm also thinking that he'll likely pull more demons and undead out to fight us during the battle, as a master demonologist."

"We can also expect a variety of spirit and will-breaking effects," Michiko spoke up. "Witchcraft will make him a difficult challenge for more reasons than his stats alone. Doc, any ideas to counter that?"

Doc nodded. "I can think of a few ways. I will prepare some magic in advance, but it will take a while. Voodoo is by no means an improv act."

"I should be able to take him head on," Lisbeth said. "At least for a short while. As a player-boss, myself, I should match equal level player-bosses toe-to-toe. But somehow I doubt I'm going to be on his level."

"Well," Sachi said. "When and if we get past him, it only gets harder. Once he's down, the area will light up, and we'll go back out the way we came to find our next challenge."

"The halls we previously cleared of demons will be overrun by something even worse: dragons," Diabel said.

"I command dragons," Lisbeth said. "They'll be easy to get past."

"Not these." Diabel swiped the picture again, and the next boss displayed. "These are the brood of Embrys. Your… predecessor. Embrys is Smuldur's mother, and was slain ages ago. There's no information about how she rose from the dead, but when she did, she also caused her brood to rise once more through sheer force of will." The boss was a humanoid looking figure, only with flesh burned away leaving only bone. She had a variety of weapons on her person. "Another faux player-boss, Embrys is a Dragon Swordmaster. Like any dragon, she has two lives, even though she's undead. After we slay her the first time, she will rise again, taking her true dragon form."

Kirito blinked, and then looked incredibly tense. "Undead dragons," he said. "That means that piercing and slashing attacks won't be effective against them at all, since their bones are too strong to break with any weapons we're able to obtain."

Eulsam went pale at that realization. He shook his head. "Many of our players will be completely useless in that fight except to hold off the swarm of dragons. Please tell me prismatic weapons trump dragon bone."

"Indeed, they do," Lily said. "Looks like this battle will be heavily dependent upon our involvement. I recommend the mortal players stay behind us when we fight these monsters."

"Please tell me she's the last boss before the big one," Eulsam said. "This dungeon is starting to sound unbeatable at our level."

"Just wait till you get a load of Salamandraus himself," Diabel said with a bit of a smile. He swiped the screen, and the final boss of the dungeon appeared. "Salamandraus has three phases. He changes at sixty-six percent, and at thirty-three percent. First phase… Salamandraus acts like another player-boss, appearing as some type of advanced Knight class. That means he'll be wielding a sword and shield, and may possible switch to a lance or a pole-arm. As you might imagine, the god of fire has fire spells upon fire spells. Like other elementals, this is not sorcery, but primal elemental power, meaning even a master flame sorcery couldn't counter his magic. This will be the easiest, and most straight-forward phase."

"Knights aren't too difficult to fight," Eulsam said. "We need to stack a lot of damage to his main-hand, non-shield size. That should bring him down to sixty-six easily enough."

Diabel nodded. "His next phase is not so friendly. He will erupt first, sending out a few waves of fire that damages the party, and then grow. He will sprout two sets of large, fiery wings, which will then become weapons. He will also grow four more arms, drop his shield, and equip six blazing swords. On top of that, he'll lose his legs, becoming a… Medusa-like combatant, with a long, winding tail of fire."

"Ten tanks," Eulsam said. "One for each of his limbs. He'll likely focus heavily on one or two at a time though, no matter how many tanks we throw at him. Asuna, I want you front and center here. Nothing can break a legendary item, a shield least of all. Everyone else should be able to focus damage on his tail if they can't get in close. Next phase?"

Diabel continued. "Once he reaches thirty-three percent, he will explode, dealing heavy damage to the party. But he won't be dead. His flames will drive into the ground, and then lava will begin to bubble up around the battlefield. We'll need to make a run for it, heading all the way back to the entrance of the dungeon. The rest of the fight will take place on the way up, and around the rim of the volcano. It's going to erupt."

"We'll have to evacuate the island," Kirito said. "Of anyone not joining us on this dungeon raid. If this is going to be anything like the shattering—"

"Don't worry," Diabel said. "It won't be nearly as devastating. It will be less… Tambora and more Pompeii."

Kirito blinked, his eyes opening wide at Diabel. "Not very reassuring…"

Heathcliff laughed at him. "What's the matter, ready to run scared, Kirito?"

Kirito shook his head. "Of course not," he said. "But if it threatens players' safety like the last volcano did, I won't allow anyone to enter that dungeon at all."

"I can give you my word, Kirito," Heathcliff said. "No unnecessary deaths."

"Hasn't stopped us yet," Klover said. "Diabel, please finish."

"As he travels up the caverns," Diabel continued. "He will fight us, and we will be able to fight him. Doing so would be suicide though. We should focus on running to the top. When he reaches the top, the mountain will explode, and he will appear as a tremendous colossus of fire. He will return to two arms, and will wield a single, tremendous axe of molten rock. Players will be able to move along the rim of the volcano. Like the Molten Titan before him, he'll create splashes of lave along the edge of the volcano. There will be exploding fragments of blazing earth constantly shooting out from the eruption, and his backside will be a steady stream of flames and lava."

"Yep," Eulsam said, leaning back in his seat. "We're all going to die."

Klover looked from Eulsam to Kirito. "It sounds pretty bleak, commander."

"I won't force you or any player to enter this dungeon, Kirito," Heathcliff said. "But the Angels of Aincrad and Valkyries of Vearth going in alone would raise red flags in the system. We would be removed from the game. You, the players must outnumber us when we go in."

Kirito thought for a moment, and then got up, and left the room. Everyone watched him leave, not sure what it meant. Asuna was the first to follow him out, and the two of them went into another room, to speak privately.

"Kirito," Asuna said. "What are you thinking? Is it too much?"

Kirito nodded to her, and pulled her over to him. They shared a brief hug, and then he sat down on a table. He still said nothing, but just looked down at the floor, deep in thought.

Asuna stood there, waiting for him to say something. When he didn't she spoke again. "When we charged into Tartarus, Eulsam had many similar thoughts going through his mind. I know he must have, but he promised me to bring you back, and so he wouldn't speak openly about his feelings… I felt the same way too, for a time. It was a suicide mission. Was it worth it just to bring one player back?" She sat next to him, and leaned into him. She waited a few moments before speaking again. "I don't know if it was the right thing. The players who died may have otherwise lived, but… they knew what they were getting in to, didn't they? I always hoped that everyone understood how much of a risk they were taking… all for you, a player they had never met. It was similar with the Dragon's Nest… with the Nightmare Forest… but you know… players came to the rescue for you, for Lisbeth, and for Michiko and the rest of us. They made the choice to risk their own life for someone else. The more I think about it, I think that… if I were in their shoes, after everything I had been through, I probably would have done the same."

"Why though?" Kirito asked.

"You would die for me."

Kirito nodded. "I would…"

"I would die for you," Asuna said. Kirito was about to protest, but Asuna shook her head. "I thought, for the longest time that it was because I loved you so much. But our time here proved to me that I was wrong. It wasn't because our love for one another was so strong, but because we had so much of it to spare. It's sympathy… and compassion that makes us so ready and willing to lay down our lives for the lives of others, and other players marching to the grave for just one other life proves that they have the same traits. Outside, Kirito, are the strongest players in the game. I believe that they're just like us. They believe that even if they march to the grave, they can do some good for others. Even if they are a thousand times more selfish than us, then they would still do it. If we do this, we're not just playing to save each other anymore, and they're not playing just to save the few of us. This is about all players. If we win this fight, we're one step closer to ending the game. Even before we were in love, wouldn't either of us have died for that, back in Sword Art Online? Didn't you already do that?"

"I can't ask anyone else to do it though," Kirito said. "This is why I never wanted to be a guild leader in a game like this, where lives were at stake. I don't want to be the one to send players to their deaths, and now… it's like everyone expects me to. I can't ask a hundred players to sacrifice themselves, even if it means saving everyone else."

"Every floor we cleared in Aincrad," Asuna said. "It was the same as today. Players gathered together to take one more step towards ending the game. Every floor… we all went willingly, ready to fight. Regardless of how the orders came down or what guild we belonged to, it was always up to each of us to be there on the day of the boss battle. The players… they know what they're getting into. They aren't here because you've ordered them to be. They're here because they chose this path. Not a single soul in the counsel wanted anyone but you in charge. They trust in your command, and no one else wanted that burden. You accepted it though. We need you to be a leader now."

"Asuna," he said. He looked at her, and took a deep breath. "I'll march all of those players into the gates of Hell tomorrow, if you'll do one thing for me."

"What's that?"

"Leave. Ride a pegasus out of here. Let us end the game, let me die for you. Wake up in the real world and raise Yuichi. If you leave here now, I'll do whatever is necessary to end this game."

Asuna got up from the table, and shook her head. "I won't do that," she said. "Because I've already decided that this is worth dying for. Besides…" She held the skull trinket on her necklace. "We already decided that one of us won't die without the other."

"What should I do, Asuna?" Kirito asked. "I don't want to tell them they have to die…"

"I don't know, Kirito," Asuna said. "But whether you like it or not, you're their leader. They look up to you and whatever you do, they'll follow your lead."

"Kirito," A knock came on the door of the room, which was left open. Heathcliff spoke to him. "I don't mean to rush you, but the sooner you make a decision, the better. There's nearly a hundred players waiting for you in the courtyard. The rest of the leadership is working out strategies. They expect you're going through with the plan."

"We'll go tomorrow," Kirito said. "We'll all need a night to enjoy ourselves, and talk to our loved ones."

"If we're going," Heathcliff said. "We need to go now. The longer we wait, the more of a chance we stand of getting noticed. We need to get into that dungeon lockout as soon as possible. So say your good-byes and let's get moving."

"You don't think we'll make it, do you?" Asuna asked.

Heathcliff smiled. "Kirito has shown me the measure of the human will before. I hope he has enough for all of us…" With that, he left.

Kirito looked to Asuna, and tugged on her hands. She moved over to him, and they looked into each other's eyes, and stared for a few moments. "Goodbye," Kirito said before pulling his love into a passionate kiss. It took her by surprise, but she quickly fell into the moment, kissing back. The two didn't stop there though. They reached for each other's clothes, and started to strip one another. As the two got into it, Eulsam passed by the door, and noticed what was happening inside. He chuckled, and reached in to close it for them.

* * *

><p>After another fifteen minutes passed, Kirito left the keep with Asuna, and stepped into the courtyard where the players were gathered. Eulsam and the rest of the leadership had already divided everyone up into their various groups, and went over the general strategies. They were all detailing their groups' personal strategies when Kirito reached the center of the courtyard.<p>

A player noticed him standing there, and as an earth sorcerer put his skills to use. Kirito rose up as the ground formed a pillar for him to stand upon. When it stopped, he looked around, and the players began to quiet, and look up to him. He looked out for a moment in something of awe before saying anything.

"Thanks," he said, trying to find whoever it was that gave him the pedestal. He thought a little bit more about what he would say, and then finally spoke. "Each of us are about to undertake the greatest, and possibly the most important challenges of the game. We have gone over the intelligence, and after seeing it all, I have to ask everyone first. Who among you is not willing to die today?" There was no response. "I don't know how you do it. To fight through this game, always staying on top of it all, and charging into the field of battle for the sake of others. Whatever is driving you to these heights, I hope you take it with you in full force. I admit, I am afraid. I'm afraid to die. I always have been, and that fear has driven me to do great things, but now… now I am going to lead the march to death's very doors. It's insane, but one thing I have found that I am not afraid of is dying for the people in this world who matter most to me. For us, today, this is the end. There is no hope or salvation. We charge into Hell itself for all of the players on Vearth. So I'll ask again… who among you is not willing to die?" He gave another pause, and no one responded. "Then who... among you will die with me today?"

After another pause, there was a shout that started with a few and ended with many. Kirito hopped from the pillar, and turned to head back into the keep. Asuna followed, and all of the players that had gathered started to move in afterwards. Kirito sent out a guild alert. "To all who are not going to the Halls of Salamandraus, evacuate the island."

* * *

><p>Once the players descended down into the keep's lower levels, and moved into the dungeon, the entrance behind them collapsed in on itself. The Valkyries of Vearth and the Angels of Aincrad were the last ones to join in, and once they were there, everyone split up into their twenty-five-man groups. In Kirito's group, Asuna and Lisbeth were the tanks for their group. Leafa, Crystal and Doc were with them as healers and support. Kirito, Eulsam, Sampson, Klein, Silica, Michiko, Xaela and Sinon all took the roles of damage dealers. Three of the other groups were each led by Heathcliff, Diabel and Klover, who were all tanking.<p>

Before the huge cavern split into its eight paths, there was a bit of ground to cover, and the ground was littered with smaller elementals. The groups gathered together, and Eulsam looked ahead at the elementals. There were a lot of them, but it would seem pretty easy to fight through it with two hundred players, about seventy-five of which were Angels and Valkyries. He mounted up on a horse, and rode ahead of all of the groups. "Listen up!" he shouted. "This is a long dungeon, so don't get cocky pulling trash mobs. If you die, that's it. Not only did you lose your life for nothing, but you've left us down a player. There is no reason not to take your time now that we're in the dungeon. Use this time to get used to working in your group, you'll be sticking with them through the first boss. Manage your pulls slowly!" After that, he rode back to Kirito and the others, and dismounted. "Alright, Kirito… I think we're ready."

Kirito nodded, and then looked to Asuna. Before their own group charged, Klover's was already rushing into the field, pulling a small group of the elementals to the side to start fighting. Other groups were starting to go, and Asuna charged in with them. They stayed on their feet, not wanting to waste their mounts needlessly. They pulled a group of elementals aside, which were composed of earth and fire, and started to fight.

As they progressed, each group was able to manage about eight of the mobs at once, and so the whole raid group was going through sixty-four enemies at a time. The trash was of course just cannon fodder in comparison to the bosses, but as they got closer to the split, there were two much larger elementals, and the eight groups stopped their advance.

These two elementals appeared to have elemental weapons, a shield and an axe to each of them, and they guarded the fork in the path. Eulsam mounted up, and rode to the center of the huge party once again. "Don't let your guard down! The disadvantage of fighting big trash like this is that we don't have any intel on them. Heathcliff, Lily, Diabel and Klover, get together and take turns tanking the one on the left, cycle in and out if you drop below sixty percent. I need two more tanks, at least one Angel or Valkyrie to join Lisbeth and Asuna fighting the right side. Melee, stay back for about ten seconds and watch. Make sure when you approach you position yourselves where you won't get hit! Tanks, we need to pull them away from one another." He pointed to either side of the huge room. "And you should face them at an angle away from the party. Heathcliff, sound off when your side is good on mana, and Lisbeth will count it off."

The huge raid group started to reorganize. Healers, rangers and support players gathered in the middle, melee just ahead of them, and four tanks to each side ready to move in. "Ready!" Heathcliff shouted a few moments later.

Lisbeth looked through the mana pools of all of the players on her side, and then started to count down. "Three!" she shouted as she stepped ahead of the other tanks. Asuna was side-by-side with her. "Two! One!" The tanks all charged in. Lisbeth got her first hit on the monster, and it started fight back, swinging its axe around at her. She ducked under it, and then ran for the side of the room. The elemental chased after her, and she put herself against a wall, Asuna following close behind.

Lisbeth held of her Paladin mode for an emergency, and Asuna held of Valkyrie similarly. The fight had just begun, and there ought to be plenty of damage between the two hundred party members to take these things out. The huge axe came down, and Lisbeth blocked with her shield, even with the block, she took minimal damage. It was nothing that couldn't be healed. Arrows and spells started to fly into the monster, and a moment later, the melee players charged in, all hitting the elemental. Its hit point pool was fairly large, each individual hit surfacing less than one percent of its health in damage. If this were a regular sized group, these things would be worthy of a boss title.

As the melee players kept on swinging, the elementals whipped around with their axes, performing a whirlwind that scattered everyone away from them. While Asuna and Lisbeth were knocked back and dazed, it started to move towards the crowd of players in the center of the room. Another set of a tanks, including a Valkyrie of Vearth, pushed ahead and attacked the monster, taking it back to the wall while the melee players regrouped.

They had suffered about ten percent of their health in damage from the swing, and so, stayed back for a few extra moments while they were all healed up. The cycle continued that way until, soon enough, both of the elementals were brought down. The raid party moved on down the tunnels, filtering into their smaller groups and pushing in towards the first boss, or rather, the first bosses.

_The Twin Serpents_

Asuna led the smaller group into a large chamber. It was decorated with shaped stones, and at the center of the room there stood an altar with a broken artifact atop. "That must be our key," Eulsam said as they approached. "Get ready, gather round the center of the room!"

As the players all approached the altar, and once every one of them entered the chamber, rocks climbed up around the entrance and exit, and fire caught around the edge of the circular floor. From the flames, two, huge, flaming serpents emerged, and circled the players, backing everyone towards the middle. Lisbeth picked a head, and stayed with it as it moved around, her shield ready. Asuna went on to another, doing the same. Melee players circled around the rest, and everyone prepared for a fight.

The two snakes struck simultaneously, lashing forward and at the two tanks. The assaults were easy enough to block, but the constant burning heat hurt everyone. Water and ice mages in the group flooded the ring with cool water. It didn't do much to the snakes, but it reduced a lot of the incoming damage from the heat. Players moved forward, all attacking the bodies of the snakes.

They were different than the Temple of Fire. Instead of pure flames, these bodies seemed to be made up of magma. If the players hadn't stacked heat resistance on their weapons before the dungeon, it would have ended here and now, with the blades and other weapons melting in the wake of magma.

The snake heads struck down with lightning speed, and the health of the two tanks was slowly starting to drain out. Shield thrusts and weapon deflections pushed many of the strikes away, but damage was still coming in. "Lisbeth, Asuna," Eulsam said. "Wait until you're below fifty percent to activate your abilities." The snakes were dropping slowly as well, they didn't seem to be too much of a challenge, but they were only the first boss.

Once the snakes were brought down to half their health, they started to move. "Get back!" Eulsam said. "Stack on your tanks, don't get separated!" Everyone, especially the melee players, all scrambled to move to either Lisbeth or Asuna, and those tow did their best to get to one another. As the monsters moved though, they plowed right through the group, crisscrossing and splitting them up five ways. Many were badly injured by the burning bodies of the bosses.

Lisbeth found herself with only two players by her side, neither of which was a healer. "Eulsam!" she shouted.

"Wait for it!" she heard back. The snake head started to strike, and she started to fight with a little bit more fury. The two melee players stuck with her helped her out as much as they could, using their weapons to help deflect incoming attacks.

Asuna, facing another head, found herself with Kirito, Leafa, and several melee classes. Asuna looked back for a second to see who she was with, and then turned back around to fight the snake. The other players moved to fight, and Leafa started to throw out heals as fast as she could, but would fast run out of mana like this. "I don't know how long I can hold this," she said between casting healing spells.

Eulsam had most of the ranged players, and a couple more healers, including Crystal, one of the Valkyries of Vearth. He switched from dual blades to a claymore to attack, and the rest of the players fought with him. For them, they had a bit of a grace period where the only threat of damage came from the constant heat. Unfortunately, it was the group's healers who had suffered most during the serpent's movements. They were all still near the center, and trying to keep each other alive, and bring each other back up in health.

Lisbeth and the two with her fought furiously against the head of the snake, but it was now starting to attack the other two, damaging them as well, and their health was dropping. She activated her Paladin mode even though she was still sitting at sixty percent, and the other two players moved back once she did. Just then though, the snakes moved around again, and the players were now in three groups. Lisbeth took advantage of her invulnerability to push through to the group's center, and brought the head of the snake with her.

Asuna's small cluster was forced around and to the side. They were able to meet up with the two who fought with Lisbeth. The rest of the players all grouped up with Eulsam, there were quite a lot of them. The second snake saw a moment's advantage, and moved to Eulsam's cluster of players, where they had no tank. Eulsam quickly switched his fighting style to sword and shield, and as he saw the snake striking down towards another player, he jumped in the way, and took the blow with his shield. It knocked him to the ground, and a successive strike hit him hard, and kept him down. It took another player coming in to rescue him. A woman with a pair of daggers charged in, and tackled the head, keeping it off of Eulsam long enough for him to get up. The snake caught the player in its mouth, and swallowed her whole. She was stuck inside the snake's belly, burning up alive, her health draining. Within seconds, she was dead.

Eulsam saw that they lost a player, but didn't see exactly what happened. He realized though, when he noticed the snake attacking him again, after he got up. It was enough time to block an incoming attack, and get into the battle. In the next moment, Asuna flew over to their group, in her Valkyrie state, and drove a crackling spear down into the snake's head. "What happened?" she asked as she joined the battle, and took the snake's attention.

"She sacrificed herself so Eulsam could get up!" Sinon shouted from near the back as she loosed an arrow.

The snake reared back, and Asuna was caught off-guard, swining her sword through the air and hitting nothing as it moved back. "Brace yourselves!" Eulsam shouted as he ducked, and held that shield high over his head. The serpent unleashed a burst of molten lava out onto the group. It was painful, and dealt a lot of damage. It hit Asuna's backside, and she whipped around, and then thrashed about as it singed her, even through her Mithril under armor.

Eulsam's shield became too hot to hold, and he threw it away. Many of the other players were not so lucky to have a shield. Sinon jumped back from the attack. She had dodged it, but jumped into the serpent's body, and ran from there, screaming in pain. Before healers could respond, they lost another two players, and many were badly injured. Among those there were Michiko, Xaela, Silica and Doc.

"Lisbeth!" Eulsam shouted. "Use Paladin, come get this head off of us!"

Lisbeth blinked, the buff set to end in less than ten seconds. "Shit," she muttered. She ran through the molten form of the snake, and grabbed the attention of the second head, and then ran back through to the group at the center. She was at full health now, but her Paladin buff expired just as she got back to the safety of the healers.

The two snake heads were too much to fight at one time, even with her boss class, and they struck and damaged her. The healers couldn't keep up for much longer. Sampson activated his Bull Rage from Kirito's cluster of players, and charged towards the center through the painful flames to strike at the heads. The snakes were nearing their last few hit points, and the players went all out on them. A few moments later, the both of them whipped around, and died, turning to smoke and ashes.

The healers ran to the heavily injured players and started bringing them back up in health. "That was close," Eulsam said. "I didn't expect all of that lava."

"First boss down," Kirito said. He shook his head. The opposite end of the chamber opened up, and down the path they could see more elementals. "Take a break here. Heal up, get mana up. We'll continue on when we're good and ready."

It wasn't for another ten minutes that the players finally reached the end of the tunnel, and stood before a set of huge gates. Five of the other seven groups were there, and waiting for them. After they inserted their portion of the gate's key, only two more remained.

"Losses?" Eulsam asked the other five groups.

"Losses?" Klover asked. "We didn't lose any. Did you?"

"We lost three players," Kirito said. "Anyone else?"

The other two paths that converged into this one hadn't opened up yet, and there was no way to go back and help the other players finish. "We lost seven," someone said.

"Seven?" Klover asked. "Who's in charge of your group?"

The man who spoke rose his hand. "I was put in charge after the lead and the two assists were killed in the first few seconds of combat. We lost both of our tanks before the end."

"That's going to suck later on," Eulsam said.

Another one of the gates opened up, and a group of players charged out into the new chamber before the large door. "Twenty-five players strong, one boss down," Diabel said. "How'd everyone else do?" He looked to the groups.

"I count total battlefield losses at… fourteen so far," Kirito said, looking through the full list of players on his menu.

Finally, the last rocky barrier gave way, and the last group came through. They didn't appear to have suffered any losses, and brought with them the last of the keys.

"That's everyone," Eulsam said. "Get the key in place, and before we go in, we'll go over our strategy once again. Now we all group up into our secondary groups. That means Valkyrie of Vearth in group one, Angels of Aincrad in group two. Everyone else get into smaller groups and make sure you've got tanks and healers with you."

Kirito started to point out to players as he called them out. "I'll take my friends," Kirito said. "That's Asuna and Lisbeth as tanks. Leafa and Doc as healers. Klein, Eulsam, Sampson, Michiko, Silica, Sinon and Xaela on damage with me. We could use another healer though."

"I'll join you!" a young girl said. She had red hair and pigtails, and wore a rather tribal looking outfit. "Zeeka," she said, introducing herself. "Level one-forty-two Primal Shaman, player-boss class."

Kirito looked down at her, and the rest of the group looked at her as well, not believing her. "How old are you?" He asked.

"Thirteen!" Zeeka said. "I know, a lot of players don't give me a lot of credit. I'm one of the youngest players in the game, but here!" She swiped her player panel over to Kirito to confirm her status.

"It's just a little unbelievable," Kirito said as he read it. "That you're such a high level and have a player-boss class. How did you manage that?"

"It's a long story," she said. "I'll have to tell you another time, but I'm your girl! I can heal like, I got mad skills."

"Alright," Kirito said, putting the girl into his group through the player menu.

Klover gathered up his group from ex-Arctic Army players. Like him, many of the players were forming groups with former guild members, from before the merge into the Champions of Vearth. The doors before them opened up, and Eulsam mounted up on his horse. "Valkyries first!" he said. Everyone else move in and spread out wide! There's lots of A.O.E. here, so don't cluster up too tightly!" With that, he charged in on his horse. Kirito's group all did the same, and moved into the large battlefield ahead. The rest of the players followed.

_The Molten Titan_

As the players all spread out on the incredibly large field of battle, Kirito and his group rode to the far edge of the arena. The Angels of Aincrad spread out across the stage, ready to act when the fissures opened up, ready to fight and defend when their turn came. The Valkyries of Vearth got close to the pit of molten lava at the middle of the arena. They started buffing each other, buffing themselves… other players fired up shields on them at random, and various art effects popped up around them.

"Open up strong!" Lily shouted to the group. "As soon as it starts up, everyone activate Valkyrie and attack with everything you've got! When Valkyrie ends, fall back, and let the next set move up." After a few more spells were cast, Lily turned to the back of the room, where everyone entered, and held out a thumbs up, signaling that they were ready.

The last group of players had waited outside of the room, so that every player could prepare and get into position. Then, they all went in, and found their place. A wall of rock filled the hole behind them, and there was a loud rumbling over the arena, a vibration that moved up through each of their feet.

The pool of lava started to bubble, and then it exploded, sending a wave of lava out that hit all of the players that were close to it—all of the Valkyries. A lot of their shields popped, protecting them for the initial burst, but they still seemed to all have more on them, ready to go. They activated their Valkyrie State, each gaining a halo and a pair of glowing wings. Their weapons and shields lit up with bright light.

The creature emerging from the magma was met with a flurry of attacks from every ranged player. Arrows, spells, spears… all manners of weapons and magic shot out at it while it rose up from the pool. The crackling spears that drove into it dealt their blows, but even by the time it was finally fully formed, its health pool had been taken down less than a tenth of a percentage point. The next thing that came, as it started to sweep its arms around at the flying, swarming Valkyries, was a lightning storm. The immortal players swung their weapons, striking the monster with bolts of lightning. Then, they all flew in, and started to attack with their swords.

The heat of the room was doing good to cause constant damage to all players. It would have been worse, but various spell casters had placed various resistance buffs on the players before combat. The Valkyries were getting the worst of it though. That, combined with the attacks of splashing and erupting lava had already taken some of them down below ninety percent, even with the constant stream of healing coming out from the other players.

Eulsam watched from a distance. He had worked it out so that his group would be the first to charge in after the Valkyries. He tried to decipher patterns in the attacks, tried to work out reasonable methods to dodge and maneuver, but he wasn't seeing many openings. As the attacks continued, the health bar on the Molten Titan slowly began to whittle down. As he watched, he saw a huge burst of magma shoot out on the opposite end of the field, and splash down on the players there. Kirito and the others also watched, some opening up the full player list to see how much damage had been surfaced. Those who got hit took about ten percent of their health in damage from that single blow.

"Get ready to switch to second wave!" Eulsam shouted. Other players relayed the order down the line. He put away one of his swords, and pulled out a shield instead. "Those of us who don't have shields should stay close to someone who does," he said to his own group. Sinon was firing her arrows off, but Leafa and Zeeka conserved their mana for healing the second wave. "Leafa, if you see another big splash like that, put shields up around ranged players and healers first. They have less hit points." Leafa nodded. "Zeeka, I don't know what you can do, but I assume you have shields?" She nodded. "Same thing… Doc, what can you do?"

Doc thought about it for a moment, and opened up his inventory. "I'm trying to save my biggest stunts for Salamandraus at the end, but I've got some charms that will turn incoming damage into healing for a few seconds."

"Cast them on Asuna if you see her in trouble," he said. "Lisbeth if you drop below fifty percent, you already know what to do. Asuna though… turn on Valkyrie as soon as you get in there." The mana of the Valkyries of Vearth was starting to run dry. "Get ready!" As their mana depleted, and they landed to run back, Kirito's group, except for Sinon and their three healers, charged forward into combat. The Molten Titan was barely scratched, sitting at ninety-four percent health.

As they went in, Lisbeth unfurled her wings, and took off into the sky, charging the boss. Asuna activated Valkyrie and charged in airborne as well. "Kirito with me!" Eulsam said, moving ahead of him, and holding his shield up high to block incoming blasts of lava. "Ice mages!" he shouted as loud as he could. "Enchant our shields or else they'll be too hot to hold!" With that, a series of spells shot out at the players' shields, one by one. Their fronts were coated in frost.

Kirito followed Eulsam close, and after a first splash of lava was blocked, he leapt over Eulsam and went into his Blade Dancer's Fury, slashing wildly at the boss, and landing just at the edge of the pool of lava, and almost losing his balance before stepping back. "Can anyone freeze the lava?" he shouted back to the group.

Zeeka charged a little closer, and threw her hands up. The lava around the boss started to harden as green sparks flew out along the ground. Then, she threw a spell on Kirito directly. The rock was already starting to soften again. Kirito focused on the buff icon for a moment, allowing him to read its effect. "Lava walking?!" He shouted back, turning to glance at Zeeka. "Seriously?!" Zeeka nodded at him, and threw up a quick shield over his head as another flood of magma poured out over the players. Kirito turned back, and resumed his assault.

In the air, Lisbeth and Asuna were dealing the heaviest blows. Asuna drove her lightning spear into the boss, and then proceeded into her Lightning Flash Assault, slashing at her sword while warping around at incredibly speed. Lisbeth was throwing as many Divine attacks at the monster as she could, but held onto her Paladin mode for emergencies.

As the second wave of melee players fought, their health bars started to slowly deplete. Then, a huge wave of lava shot out towards Kirito's group. The molten wave gravely wounded many players, but Leafa and Zeeka protected themselves, Doc and Sinon with shields. Leafa's was a simple bubble of arcane energy, however Zeeka's was a shell of rock, formed around hers and Leafa's bodies. After a moment passed, Zeeka moved her arms, and the shell threw itself back into the ground. She looked around, and saw Kirito and the others had been knocked back by the blast, and were slowly getting up. She began casting a spoken spell, and her hands started to glow.

Leafa was preparing a much longer healing spell to cast on her own, core group. But before she finished, Zeeka started swinging her fist in the direction of injured players. One by one, a bolt of lightning struck them, and brought them back up to manageable health levels. Leafa quickly looked around, finding new injured targets for her own spell, and healed them instead. "Zeeka," she said, looking at her. "What do you need me for?"

Zeeka looked at her, a little confused. "Oh!" she said suddenly. "How'bout I'll focus on the melee players and you worry about protecting the ranged players?" Leafa nodded to her, and with that, the young girl moved forward. Not only was she healing now, but she started to attack. She spoke another spell, and with a swing of her fist, a huge boulder threw itself from the ground and at the boss.

While most of the players were weakened, Lisbeth activated her Paladin mode, and dropped down to the ground, using her wide wingspan as an extended shield to protect players from the continuous fall of lava. "Third wave!" Eulsam shouted. "Get ready!" Klover would lead this wave, along with Diabel. They readied themselves, and Klover began to shout orders to the players.

As Kirito charged forward again, he rushed into a Starburst Stream, and literally ran up the front of the monster as he attacked. When he reached its head, he slashed both swords across it, and kicked off of the beast, landing on the ground, and looking up at him. A new personal damage record for a single attack, but still barely noticed by comparison to the Molten Titan's health.

Eulsam's health was starting to dip below fifty percent, and he ran back for cover. Many players were doing the same. Lisbeth joined them as her Paladin mode ended, and Asuna was the last out, retrieving her spear just before Valkyrie ended, and she ran back for healing.

"Third wave!" Klover shouted as they started to flee. "Forward!" He ran forward, leading the charge, wielding a heavy shield and a large axe. His players followed him in, and started their assault.

After they got back, and Leafa and Zeeka started healing them back to full health, Kirito looked to Zeeka. "Were you the one that gave me that nice little platform back in the courtyard?" She nodded with a beaming smile. "No wonder I couldn't find you…" Kirito said, jeering a little at her before looking back to see how much damage they had surfaced. The boss was a hair below ninety percent.

After Klein caught his breath, he stood up, and looked at the boss. "This is going to be a long fight," he said. Another big splash of lava shot out in the middle of the arena, sending players there in a frenzy. The healers were well ready though, and they quickly stopped the panic and healed players. "No one's died here at least…"

"Don't jinx it," Eulsam said. "This fight's only just started. We haven't even seen the eruption phase yet."

Michiko pulled out a black skull. "Should I bring in reinforcements?" she asked. Eulsam looked at her, and cocked a brow. She smirked, and walked towards the boss. "I'm still saving a couple of these for other bosses, but, well… if we need it now…" She hurled that skull towards the boss, and it exploded in purple flames. The players panicked and fled from it at first, but then watched as the summoned demon began to attack the boss, and rejoined the fight. "It'll last a full sixty seconds," she said.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Asuna asked.

"Since like… level one-twenty or something. They're not easy artifacts to come by, but my witchcraft skill is high enough to summon demons for short periods of time."

"I've seen that before," Xaela said. "It makes me worry a little bit. Doesn't black magic usually have some steep costs in this game? Is that why you're all scary sometimes?"

Michiko shook her head. "You don't need to worry about me, I can handle it."

"Valkyries!" Lily shouted. "Ready!" The Valkyries of Vearth had all regenerated nearly all of their mana by now, and all pulled a second spear, and prepared to move in.

Klover looked back, and then at the health bars of the wave three attackers. "We're doing fine!" he shouted back. "Hold off the assault!"

"Klover!" Eulsam shouted back, stepping towards him. "Don't be foolish!"

Kirito put a hand on Eulsam, and shook his head. "Let them fight as long as they're willing," he said.

"That's not a good strategy," Eulsam said.

"Then watch," Kirito pointed out. "See how powerful the spirit and willpower of heroes is. Klover!" He shouted after him now. "Keep fighting! We have more than enough waves, pull back when you're ready and we'll replace you!" Kirito looked over to Lily. "Valkyries of Vearth! Now!"

Lily nodded, and led the charge for a second time. The Valkyries all went into their enhanced states, and charged behind her. As before, they opened with a rain of lightning spears. Then, as they all charged, lightning and thunder started dropping the boss's health bar a little faster.

"Angels of Aincrad!" Heathcliff shouted. "Get ready…" The Molten Titan's health pool was dropping slowly. It was at eighty-two percent, and that mean its next phase was coming.

"Zeeka," Kirito said. "Do you think you could keep the ground together?"

Zeeka looked around, and after some thought, she nodded. With the Molten Titan dropping towards eighty-percent, the Angels took flight, hovering in the sky. "Get ready!" Eulsam shouted. "Eruption phase in five seconds!"

Klover withdrew the third wave, and they all charged back for cover. "Everyone!" he shouted. "Gather up, prepare your shields!" Players started casting greater shielding spells. The boss sank into the lava, and the Valkyries cut off their Valkyrie State early to conserve mana. There was a loud explosion, and huge blazing boulders began to shoot out of the pit, falling on the players. Large shields started to cover the players. As the shields were struck, they weakened and broke down, and players started to scatter to dodge the incoming rocks.

The eruption ended, and the boss started to emerge once more. The Angels of Aincrad all unfurled their wings, and hovered above the stage. It started to shake. Zeeka threw out her hands, and started speaking, casting another spell. The ground began to split towards Kirito's group, and they all thought to run. "Don't move!" Zeeka shouted as her spell finished. A chasm opened up around them, but a single platform of earth kept them safe. Other players who were too far away however fell down into the pit. The Angels flew down to them, plucking them up and pulling them back to the top.

The Valkyries picked up their assault where they left off, attacking the boss. Zeeka dug her hands into the ground, and formed bridges around the fissure. "We're up!" Kirito said. "Second wave, front and center!" Eulsam cracked his neck and charged forward as the rest of the melee players in their group went onward.

Sampson didn't need the bridges. He activated his Bull Rage, and pulled out his second axe. Then, he jumped from the platform towards the boss, and started to swing wildly. The demon vanished as soon as he arrived, and he was able to keep up the extra damage for a short time. "Leafa!" Zeeka shouted. "Cover for me, I need mana." Leafa nodded, and moved forward to cast heals on their group. Zeeka pulled a mana potion from her inventory, and drank from it. It took a while but her mana pool was restored. Once she was finished, she swapped back in for Leafa.

"Keep it up!" Klover shouted over to Eulsam. "You'll prove yourselves warriors yet!"

"Angels of Aincrad!" Heathcliff shouted as he started to fly towards the boss. "There are enough of us to stay back and support and fight. Sachi, lead the support group! Diabel, lead an assault!" The two nodded, and two-thirds of the Angels of Aincrad there flew toward the boss, and engaged him as the Valkyries dropped back out.

From then on, the Angels and the Valkyries would swap out while Kirito and Klover's player waves would switch out, both sets independently of one another. They kept on whittling the boss's health down until it fell down to sixty percent, and went into another eruption phase. The players all fell back and regrouped for cover under the shields of their casters.

Sinon opened her player menu, and opened up an ability selection screen. Asuna looked over at her, and reacted with a bit of shock. "Sinon," she said. "You still haven't chosen an ability?" Sinon nodded, reading through the description of one of the three options presented to her. "Why not?"

"I wasn't sure which one I should pick," she said. "As a Sniper, I only get a new special ability once every twenty levels, so I wanted to be sure before I chose it. But since this might be our last dungeon ever, I figure I should pick this one."

When the eruption ended, and the fissure began, Zeeka once again stabilized the earth around them, preventing them from needed to worry about it. Sinon selected the ability in mind, and confirmed her selection. As the players went back in to fight, she held out her bow, and gave it a jerk. It appeared to unfold, become twice as long, and she floated into the air. As she drew an arrow, the arrow turned bright, and grew much larger. When she loosed it, the arrow shot out with lightning speed, and exploded on impact with the boss, but that wasn't the end of it. It was joined by four more arrows as she crossed that ability over with her previous one. When it was done, the boss had lost three percent of its health to that single attack.

"What was that?" Klein asked, looking at Sinon as she dropped back to the ground.

"Starbolt Arrows," she said as calmly as ever, and went back to firing normal arrows.

The fight continued on, and the players all kept on bringing down the Molten Titan's health. Things were going smoothly, but then, the boss reached forty percent health. It dove down, and went into its eruption phase like normal, but then, the arena itself began to start sinking, or so it seemed. Lava began to seep out from the pit, forcing players to fall back farther.

"This wasn't in the guide!" Eulsam shouted. "Was it?"

Heathcliff shook his head. "No, it was not!" he said back. "But the game is smart, don't forget. It's likely adapting to us as we fight to make the boss more challenging!"

"That's not fair!" Klein shouted as he heard the news. When the boss came back up, two fissures opened simultaneously, and faster than Zeeka could hold the ground steady with her magic. She and others fell into the chasms opening up. The angels went down to try and pick them up, but there was at least ten who they couldn't reach in time, and who burned to death in the molten rock at the bottom.

Kirito himself nearly bit the dust, the ground caving under his feet. He tried to jump and climb up but the earth crumbled under every step. Asuna activated her Valkyrie state, and grabbed hold of him, pulling him from danger. "Don't give up!" Klover shouted as he charged towards the lava. "Mages, give us a path!" Many of the mages started freezing the lava in front of Klover's group as they charged in to continue the fight.

"That man has a death wish," Eulsam said as he watched.

The cycle continued once more, the lava creeping up farther and farther, making it all harder and harder to fight through. When the final eruption phase began, the monster stayed hidden twice as long, more exploding rocks firing out at the players, whose health and mana pools were starting to run out. As shield burst, some players fell victim to the explosions, being sent flying into the lava.

Klover was shot out into the pool, but quickly grabbed by an Angel and taken to safety. Zeeka held up her hands once more, and started to cast a very long spell. When it was finished, platforms of rock were starting to rise from the lava. "We have to kill it fast now!" she shouted.

"She's right!" Kirito went along with her. "Everyone, go go go!" All of the players charged in for the monster, and in the final leg of the battle, a few more were slain, but the monster was finally destroyed. In a loud cry, it fell down into the pool, and the lava all receded underground.

The players all gathered up, and drank health and mana potions, and rested. "How many have we lost now?" Eulsam asked.

Kirito counted the number of dead players on the master list for the raid. "Thirty-one," he said. "It's not looking good."

Klover picked Kirito up by his collar, so that he was standing, and then let go of him. "Kirito," he said softly to him. "If you lose hope, everyone will lose hope. If you are afraid, everyone will be afraid. However…" he dusted Kirito's shoulders off, and shoved his hand into his back, to get him to stand up straight. "If you are strong… and vigilant… then everyone will be. We have followed you into the pits of Hell, and this battle isn't over yet."

Kirito stared at him for a moment, and then nodded. He shook his head, and stretched out. "Rest quickly!" he shouted over the group. "We have to keep moving. The fate of Vearth rests with us!"

"Klover," Eulsam said as he got up. "Were you a Sword Art Online survivor?"

He nodded to Eulsam, and crossed his arms as he looked out to the players. They were all starting to get up, ready to fight again. "I was a nobody in Sword Art," he said. "But when I came here, players looked up to me anyways, just because I was there. Since they looked up to me, I decided that I had to be their leader. I led them through Vearth, and formed us all into the Arctic Army. We completed a raid called the Depths of the World just a week before the Dragon's Nest opened up. I think that's where I truly became who I am today." He pulled out his large axe, it was bright, and shined in the dimming light of the cavern. "This axe—Eternus—was the reward I claimed from laying the killing blow to the final boss. It is blessed with Divine magic, which turns all attacks delivered with it to Divine-Type."

"And you were there for Tartarus, you said? So you've been in two raids?"

"Aye," Klover said. "I suppose that means I've done more PVE content than any player in the game." Eulsam read his level: one-hundred and sixty-one.

"You're a higher level than any of us," Eulsam said. "Why wouldn't you want to take the lead of the Champions of Vearth?"

Klover shook his head. "I was told by someone I trust that it was simply not my place to lead the final march to victory in Vearth. I was told though that someone with great prestige and honor would rally the players, and that the best way I could help, would be to follow him to the best of my ability. When I heard the name of this person was Kirito, I knew I couldn't deny it, even if I did want to lead."

"Who told you?" Eulsam asked. "I'm just curious…"

"You wouldn't believe me if I did tell you," Klover said before having a short laugh.

"Move out!" Kirito shouted after that. Klover looked toward the group, and started to move along with them without answering any more questions.

_The Demon Prince, Nher'sharam_

Traveling down the path, the players stepped into complete darkness as the magma receded entirely. The armor and weapons of the Angels of Aincrad, and of the Valkyries of Vearth, lit up the area immediately around the players as they ventured forth. Spell casters within the party used various minor spells to create brighter sources of lights, which guided their way through the tunnels. The rocky texture of the wall slowly turned into something less natural, more artificial, giving way to cut and smoothed stone—all dark.

"Be on your guard," Eulsam shouted to the party as he walked along near the front. "This is where we are expecting the legions of demons and undead…" Players drew their weapons, and the tank classes gathered around close to the casters generating light.

As they kept moving, they started to hear things. Movement all around them, and heavy breathing. The light the party was creating was starting to shorten. It wasn't dimming, but the distance it traveled seemed to stop unnaturally, hitting walls of shadows.

The players started to pass through a doorway, but as they entered the other side, the light of their spells reflected off of a thousand eyes, peering at them through the darkness. There was a pause, and the front most players, led by Klover, started to back up. Eulsam was with them there. "Get back," he said. "Slowly…"

Just as he said that, there was a sudden cry of the demons that lurked in that dark place, and they started to charge the group. "Sachi!" Kirito shouted out as he raised his swords, and started fighting off the pour of monsters attacking the group. "We have to find another way, this is a dead end!"

Sachi nodded, and stepped away from the edge of the crowd to open her player menu, and access a map. She studied it for a few moments while players defended themselves and the party. "Alright," she said. "This way!" She turned, and left that room, and the players ran with her.

As the front of the party ran back behind the doors to where the other players stood on guard, they started to fight back the monsters, while Sachi led the party back, and towards another path. As they ran, the monsters kept coming from that hall, attacking them. The players at the back trailed along, moving slower as they covered the rear, and it slowed the whole group down.

The way Sachi was leading them went uphill, and through another set of corridors. As they moved along, more of the demons started to attack from the front, and from small rooms along the side of the hall. Eulsam pulled out a shield and spear, and pushed his way into one of those side rooms to give a quick look around. It was too dark to see. "Light!" he shouted. An Angel of Aincrad moved into the room with him, and as they fought through the few demons, they could see the room was relatively small. Eulsam moved back out once the room was cleared. "The side rooms are small! Move in and clear them towards the front so the rear doesn't get cut off!"

As he commanded, the players just before the front started to rush into the many rooms, which were like the cells in prisons, and slaying the demons within. At the very front, as Eulsam moved back there, they were pushing hard through waves of skeletal demons. "They're weak to Divine Type damage!" Lily shouted. "Valkyries of Vearth!" The Valkyries all moved forward towards her. "Shift our Valkyrie states in groups of three, we'll be like a spearhead that drives through the enemy lines."

Asuna and Lisbeth stayed just behind the head of the spear, each taking a side and being the first into a room as they moved along, tagging monsters and pulling them from the room so that ranged players and casters could use their area-of-effect spells and attacks on them. They were limited though, and only those players who could attack without hitting fellow players would be fighting on.

Eventually, the players reached the end of that tunnel, and found themselves fighting on a cliff's edge, a cliff that looked down to the huge room they had fled. Demons were now starting to climb up the walls, and onto the narrow pathway that the players were traveling on. A few of the demons managed to pull a couple Valkyries off the edge, but they flew back up and on the way, knocked some of the demons back down to the pit.

"Angels of Aincrad!" Diabel shouted out. "Fly along the side and do what you can to keep them from reaching the rest of the players!" As he spoke, the demons were pushing up easily, and more players, less fortunate and without wings, were falling into the pit of demons below. Once mages and other casters got to the pathway however, things got a little easier. They used their magic to push the demons back down, and blow them off of the edge of the cliff.

"Take your time!" Eulsam shouted. "If we run here, we'll be more likely to lose our balance and fall!" The area they were moving in was huge, and open. From atop, they could see that they were moving along the walls of the great rooms below. Ahead was a curve in their path that would lead them between two of the rooms. On either side was a drop.

"At least these guys don't have wings!" Klein said. As he said that, from the next room, demons began to fly up, and towards them. They couldn't see them at first, but when they got close, their eyes, alight with purple flames, alerted the players to their presence.

"You called down the jinx!" Eulsam said to Klein. He turned to the Angels as he fought some of the demons climbing open. "Angels of Aincrad, fly out and keep those flying monsters from reaching us!" Many of them turned, and flew towards the airborne enemies, taking them two for every one to ensure that they would not reach the player group.

"This is insane!" Michiko shouted. "We'll never make it through, there's too many of them!" As she spoke, a few flame sorcerers began to hurl fireballs off of the path and down into the room below. They exploded, dealing damage to the flood of monsters, and for brief moments, lighting the area for players to see how many of them were down there.

Xaela capped out her Blood Bath, and started moving towards the front. Klein was already there with her, picking up as many of the killing blows as he could with his Quickdraw. Zeeka, along with earth sorcerers and other shamans, were starting to call down an earthen wall over their path. It wasn't covering much of the area, but it was helping a little in mitigating the onslaught of the demon hordes.

Players reached the long bridge of a path that walled the two rooms apart from each other. The next room was even larger than the first, and went down farther, a giant pit. "We have to get down there," Sachi shouted from the sky as she battled the flying monsters. She pointed along where the cliff's edge path lined the other side of the next room, and where it spiraled down.

Michiko looked down into the next room, and started casting a spell. As she did, her eyes glowed with darkness, and a creeping purple energy climber through her veins. When the spell finished, a strange glowing energy shot from her left hand, and down into the pit. Her other hand was lit up with purple flames. "I can create a doorway that players can travel through leading to the bottom of the pit," she said. "I need room to place it though."

Zeeka heard her, and went back to where the pathway turned off into the bridge, and cast her own spell. The rock wall on the side they came from caved in, forming a small cavernous room for the players to use. Eulsam watched, and then looked down the pit. "We need to make sure it's clear downstairs first!" he shouted. "Lisbeth, lead the Angels down there and take out as many as you can!" Lisbeth nodded. She was already in flight, and she dove down the pit to fight. Many of the Angels of Aincrad followed her.

Michiko moved back to the new room, and threw her right hand forward. The same, strange energy shot forth into the wall at the opposite end of the room, and opened into a doorway. Players started rushing towards it, and crossing through.

When they reached the other side, Lisbeth and the Angels of Aincrad were fighting much larger demons that waited down at the bottom. The more players coming out added to their forces, and they started fighting the demons back. Sachi was down there, and when Kirito and Eulsam arrived, she pointed towards a huge doorway. "There it is! Once all players reach the other side, the doors should shut!"

The player group pushed forward, many of them rushing into that room for safety. Soon, everyone was in, and the doors slammed shut on the demons. Finally, they could rest, but not for long. Before everyone had their vitals restored, a purple flame shot up from the center of the huge room, which was as dark as the rest of this part of the dungeon.

"Get ready!" Eulsam shouted. "Here it comes…"

Nher'sharam's voice was deep, raspy, and it rumbled across the room. "Many have come to try and end me," it said. "Many have failed, and at times, few have succeeded. Death has visited me before, and it will visit me again, like an old friend, he comes and goes like the seasons." The purple flames exploded outward for a distance, and in every direction the traveled, they formed into the Demon Prince's wings, and his four arms. In each of his hands, he grasped a sword made of jade, and his torso hovered over the ground.

"Asuna," Kirito said. "Ready?" She nodded, and the two charged in towards the Demon Prince. Asuna activated her Valkryie State, and led in with her lightning spear, hurling it at the demon. As it flew towards him, so did the spears of the Valkyries of Vearth, and all sorts of ranged attacks from the rest of the players.

The boss spun around rapidly, and moved forward as he did. His blades and his wings knocked all of the spears away, as well as most of the other attacks, and he came out of his spin just in front of Kirito and Asuna. "Blade Dancer's Fury!" Kirito shouted out. He put away his Elucidators, and drew two other stock swords made from Black Steel. He started to strike at the Demon Prince, every blow met with one of the boss's swords.

"Lightning Flash Assault!" Asuna shouted out her move. She warped around the demon, flying in circles and striking him with her sword at lightning speed. The boss did little to stop her attacks. Klover was the next in to fight. The boss used one of his swords against him, and with every attack Klover deflected with his shield, he made a hard strike with his axe.

As more players started to charge in, the boss found himself facing too many weapons to stop all of them. Already, his health was down by two percent, and the fight was less than sixty seconds in. He went into another whirlwind, knocking the melee attackers back and away, and during that spin, moved forward towards the ranged players, dealing heavy damage and knocking them all back as well.

Eulsam saw this as he got up, and shouted to the group. "Ranged players! Healers! Spread wide so he can't do that one again!" The players who got up nodded, and those who weren't hit all ran from the demon as it started swinging at them. It dealt fatal blows left and right, and as the melee players were being healed, they rushed back in to engage the boss, and save the others. "Back to the cycle strategy!" Eulsam shouted. "Work in three groups, melee!" The players did an impromptu organization. The Valkyries would all attack at once, making the first group. Then, Klover would lead a third of the melee attackers, and Kirito would have the rest.

As the demon fought, he spun around again, knocking more of them back. After that time, he reared his head back, and lurched forward, spewing purple flames out onto the battlefield. More players were going down. Sinon got another chance to shoot with her Starbolt Arrows, blasting him and hitting for a lot of damage.

"Valkyries!" Klover shouted out after getting up from the ground. "Wait till his next whirlwind, then throw your spears again!" Sure enough, the demon performed another whirlwind. They were starting to become a devastating force against the players. Not only were his weapons and wings doing lots of damage, but a burst of flames would shoot off here and there from the spin. After he stopped this time, another flurry of spears hit him, and each struck for major damage.

When the next wave of melee players went in, he took off, and flew up into the sky. Eulsam watched, and immediately pulled his shield back out. "Mages! Shields!" he shouted out. Fireballs started falling from the sky, but not like anything they'd seen before. These were in purple flames, and had much wider explosions dealing much higher damage. A few of the players were lost to this rain of death. When the demon prince returned to the ground, he laughed, and charged for Eulsam.

Zeeka saw the charged coming, and encased Eulsam in a shell of stone, protecting him, at least a little bit. With one strike of one sword, the shell of earth was crumbled, and with another, Eulsam was cut down, falling to zero health and dying.

"Eulsam!" Diabel shouted, and charged in to attack the demon. He activated his ability, and his sword lit up and expanded with light. His class was a Paladin, and so his Divine attacks started hurting the demon prince.

Kirito looked on at Eulsam's crushed body, and then looked to the demon. Asuna pulled at his arm. "He said it himself, we're all going to die," she said. "We can mourn later, once we're out… if we get out! But now—"

"I know!" Kirito shouted, and ran for the boss. "We need to fight!" He jumped up, and managed to land on the demon's back. He re-engaged his Blade Dancer's Fury, and started hacking and slashing at the monster's wings. Each strike broke his spare blades, but the demon took heavy damage, and thrashed around. Before Kirito was flung off, its wings were cut from its back, and it screamed.

It went after Kirito as he tumbled back. Asuna leaped to the defense. She turned her Valkyrie State back on and took the first sword swing onto her shield. It knocked her away, but her shield would not break. The next three sword swings were each blocked by another Valkyrie. And finally, Lisbeth struck the monster's backside with a Divine Fireball. It turned to Lisbeth, and attacked her. It stopped just before reaching her, and it shouted the name of its ability. "Starburst… Stream!" Lisbeth was quick to turn on Paladin Mode, and took the super speed series of strikes with ease. As the sword attacks bounced off of her, she flew into the demon and struck it with her sword, her tail, her wings, striking with Divine damage.

When Paladin Mode ended, so did the demon's attack. Lisbeth kept on fighting. Diabel jumped in with her, and started blocking attacks. Those two were quickly knocked away though. As melee players started to swarm the demon again, he went into another whirlwind, knocking them all back. The demon now stood at about forty percent health.

Sampson went into a Bull Rage, and charged for the boss. At the same time, Silica activated her ability, and transformed into, this time, a dire snake. She wrapped around him as he started to thrash around, and Sampson wailed on him with his axes. Thirty seconds passed, and then they both turned back to normal, and fled back to restore their energy levels.

Klover charged forward at the now disoriented demon, and leapt up, dropping his shield. He gripped his axe with both hands, and when he came down, he struck the ground. A magical effect started, ice jutting out in a wave in front of him, and shooting up towards the demon in great spires. Then, Klover pulled back, did a three-sixty, and slammed the axe into the ground again. The spires all flung forward, shooting at the demon, leaving it at fifteen percent. "We've almost got him!"

Kirito looked around. "Melee!" he shouted. "Form two waves. First wave get him to use his whirlwind, then everyone at once, attack!" A small group of melee players charged forward, and just as planned, they were thrown back in a whirlwind. What followed was all of the other players rushing into the attack. After sending everything they had at the demon, it was vanquished. It fell into the ground, and exploded in purple flames. The wave of the explosion was mostly shielded against, but a few more of the players, including two Angels of Aincrad, bit the dust.

Once the fight ended, the doors to the entrance opened, and on the other side, it was bright, and outside, a great battle was going on, between demons and skeletal dragons. At first, players backed away, afraid that the enemies would charge in on them. When they did not, they calmly regrouped, and healed up.

"We're at a hundred and forty-nine," Kirito said after counting the losses.

"And still have two bosses to finish," Klover said. "Kirito, you need to elect a new second-in-command."

Kirito nodded, and sighed. "Eulsam was our strategist, I don't know if we have anyone who can fill his shoes on the fly like this." Nonetheless, he pointed to Asuna. "Vice Commander Asuna is a valiant warrior though." Asuna looked at him, and smiled. "Asuna, you've inherited Eulsam's players, what's left of them…"

Klover stood up. "Alright everyone!" he shouted. "Listen up! What comes next is an army of undead dragons. Our weapons won't do anything against them, so we'll be relying on spells. It looks like most of the trash mobs are busy, so let's avoid unnecessary fights. If any of them do attack us, melee players can still physically knock the dragons back, and the smaller ones can be killed."

"How are we going to fight Embyrs?" Lisbeth asked. "Even as a dragon class myself, I'm not sure I can think of many ways to beat her."

Klover started to move towards the door. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there," he said. "I think for now, we should just focus on moving forward!" Many players started to follow him. Soon after, Kirito got up, and Asuna followed him and soon the rest of the group headed out.

_Embrys, the Dragon Queen of Old_

As the group headed out, Kirito opened his player menu, and accessed his ability screen. He tapped a button, selecting an ability for reaching level one-sixty after the last fight. A few other players in the group were doing the same. By the time he got to the door, he was ready to fight, and had his weapons drawn.

When the group left the room and went back out to where dragons and demons were battling, they were not engaged. Both sets of enemies seemed too busy with one-another to worry about players. "This makes things a little easier," Kirito said.

As he spoke, Lisbeth flew up to the sky, and pulled one of the fighting dragons aside, and battled it. It was short lived, and after the dragon was finished off, she flew back down to the party. Everyone looked at her. "Lisbeth," Asuna said. "Why did you…"

Lisbeth opened her player stats, and swiped them over to Asuna before she kept on walking forward. It read that she had just barely hit level one-hundred-fifty-five. "Ding," she said. Next, she opened her ability tree, and selected a new ability for herself.

"Oh," Asuna said to that. She closed the panel and walked on. They took the same portal Michiko had set up to go back, and as they walked along the narrow paths, a few dragons and demons here and there would attack, but in those small amounts it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. The whole place now had a strange orange glow about it, like a sunrise but without any sun. "How far to Embyrs?" Asuna asked.

Sachi opened the map, and looked over it. "Not too far," she said. "We go back the way we came for a while longer, and there's a fork in the tunnels towards the entrance to the Demon Prince's domain."

As they got farther away from the boss room they just left, more and more dragons began to swarm. "Don't let your guard down!" Klover shouted to the group from the front. "There's more dragons up ahead, and they might attack us!" Everyone raised their weapons, and followed Klover and his inner circle as they approached the dwelling of Embyrs.

As they went along, there were more dragons, but none of them engaged the players. They would hiss and growl, and stay away. They didn't seem interested in them. "I expected more of a fight from these guys," Diabel said. "I don't like the feel of this."

"A dungeon like this… it can't be this easy," Lisbeth said in agreement. "Diabel… in the mechanics of the fight, did it mention anything about adds?"

Diabel stopped, and shook his head. "No," he said. "Which is odd. Usually, they're pretty clear about them. There either is or there isn't. But that topic didn't come up at all."

Lisbeth though for a moment, and then moved forward to Klover. "Klover, wait," she said. "We need to stop for a moment."

"Why?" he asked.

Kirito moved up with Lisbeth, and Asuna went with him. "What's wrong, Liz?" Kirito asked.

Lisbeth looked back, and pointed at the dragons. "We need to kill them," she said. "If we reach Embyrs, she'll be able to take direct control over her brood. Every dragon we leave alive now is a dragon we'll have to fight when we engage the boss. Just like the Dragon's Nest."

Asuna nodded, and turned back to go back to the rear. "Everyone!" she shouted. "Get ready. We have to fight these mobs!" Klover gave a similar command to the front, and Kirito went back with Asuna.

"Melee players!" Kirito shouted. "Dragons aren't easy to kill, and our weapons can't do any piercing or slashing damage. We have to use crushing force. If you have any hammers, axes or maces, switch to those. Defend our casters!"

Everyone prepared to fight. Klover was the first to charge forward, rushing at one of the dragons with his axe in hand. He pushed at its head with his shield, and then brought his axe around wide, dealing a little bit of damage to it, but not much. The players all joined him, starting to take on a few of the dragons around them and fight them. They fought the dragons in small amounts, so that they would always be outnumbering them when they engaged. Their easy stride to the next boss turned into a snail's crawl.

Through a slow process of pulls and tactical rushes, the group made their way through the tunnels to the next boss room without much trouble. When they arrived, the corpse of a faux player-boss sat on a throne of bones. The players took their time, going around the circular chamber, and clearing out the dragons in there, one-by-one.

"Alright," Diabel said to the group. "Strategy… Any ideas?"

"Melee players should surround her," Lisbeth said. "She's a small target right now, so it may be difficult for everyone to get in. Don't forget though, that she can fly—"

"She's mine!" Zeeka shouted as she charged forward. She began casting a spell as she ran, and Lisbeth and the rest of the players looked at her, surprised.

"Wait!" Kirito shouted at her. "We need a plan of attack!"

Zeeka threw her fists out as her spell finished, and huge plates of earthen walls rose up from the ground, and slammed together around her. Zeeka wasn't finished. She started again to channel a spell, this time, her fists sparkling with lightning. By now, the rest of the players began to charge forward, ready to attack. As Embyrs broke from the rock, she shrieked, and flew at the young girl, drawing a pair of longswords. Zeeka stopped and threw a series of punches through the air. Each punch threw a bolt of lightning at the boss, dealing some small amounts of damage.

Embrys kept her charge through the magic attacks, but was stopped as Asuna flew in front of her, her Valkyrie State active, and drove her back with her shield and spear. Embyrs tumbled through the air, and looked around. Then, another player flew up at her. This player was shrouded in a dark haze, a set of black, leathery wings, and had eyes that shined of purple lights. He wielded a staff, and struck her with it.

"Who is that?" Kirito asked as he stopped and watched the battle.

Klover stood next to him, and watched. He opened the full list of players, and looked through to see who was being engaged by the boss. "Rasta," Klover said to Kirito. He read through the player's individual information, and nodded slowly. "That makes sense, I suppose…"

"What makes sense?" Kirito opened the same menu, and looked at Rasta's stats. "Demon Monk?"

Klover nodded. "I had wondered about that for a long time. But it seems the rumors are true. If you defeat a player-boss, then you take on that player-boss class."

"I see," Kirito said. "So then… Rasta must have gotten the killing blow against the Demon Prince." Klover nodded. "Why didn't he say something earlier?"

"Who can tell?" After that, Klover charged forward to attack, and Kirito joined him.

"Everyone!" Kirito shouted as they seemed to have very little trouble with the dragon. "She is a Swordmaster, which means she's fine-tuned for PVP… for solo fights! We're overwhelming her, but don't forget, she has a second phase!"

As the players all wailed on Embyrs, her health whittled down to zero, and she collapsed to the ground. The players all took steps back, and raised up their defenses. After fifteen seconds, her body rose, and glowed bright orange. Then, she reincarnated. Her body exploded in size, transforming into a full scale dragon, matching Smuldur in size.

"You think you have defeated me?" Embyrs asked the players, her voice rumbling through the caverns. "I am the Queen of the Dragons!" Her bones then caught fire, and the heat was starting to deal small, ongoing damage to the party. Then she reared back, smoke pluming from her mouth and nose.

"Shields!" Diabel shouted. Casters all through the group starting putting up shields around the party, and in the next moment, an intense blast of white hot flames poured down onto the crowd. Just five seconds into the attack, shields were starting to break left and right.

Crystal saw the group about to falter, and rushed towards the flames from her position, just outside of the blast. She activated her Valkyrie State, and flew up to meet the dragon's mouth. "Final Shield!" she shouted out as she flew right to the beginning of the stream, and held up her shield. The flames were stopped, but Crystal's health was set to just one hit point remaining. She glowed with white light, and her shield expanded to a larger size. The flames deflected off of the shield, and went around the party until the attack ended. Once it did, Crystal vanished, bursting into light.

The players looked around, and then started to fight. There were a few bodies, burnt to a crisp, scattered about them. A flurry of lightning spears struck the dragon. The Angels of Aincrad and the Valkyries of Vearth were the only ones among the group with weapons capable of damaging the dragon, with few exceptions. Players like Klover and Xaela, who had a legendary weapon, were doing damage as well.

With every strike, the beast thrashed a limb out, knocking attacking players away. Another stream of flames started, and this time, players didn't even try to shield themselves. They ran away as fast as they could, the searing flames scouring the battlefield as Embyrs scorched the earth. The ground she attacked even softened, parts of it melting into lava for a brief moment. She had yet ninety percent of her total hit points remaining.

"Players are dropping like flies!" Sampson shouted. "We need a better plan!" He went into his Bull Rage, and started to swing his weapons at the monster. Even still, the huge dragon dwarfed him, and tossed him into a wall with a swing of her tail. By the time he was able to get up, his rage ended.

Zeeka clapped her hands together, and the sound of thunder rumbled through the arena. She started speaking strange words, casting a spell. When she was finished, a series of strange lights danced around her, and entered her. She floated up into the air, and around her, the ghostly figure of some giant appeared. It charged for the dragon, and with two one-handed axes, started to wail on the boss.

Klover slammed his axe into the ground, and it began to glow blue. Frost started to swirl around him—around his axe—and he flung the weapon at the dragon. A stream of ice and snow followed, and when it hit the dragon's leg, it exploded in ice, dealing some damage and freezing the dragon in place for a few moments. It didn't last long, the monster simply flapped its wings, and a gust of wind threw every player, even those airborne, back against the edge of the arena. Then, she took the time to snap the ice and free herself.

Embyrs mouth glowed with flames, and she started to spew her fiery breath on the dazed players, burning them up and ending their lives with ease. Kirito came to just in time, and started to make a run for it. Before the flames reached him, Lily of the Valkyries of Vearth pulled him away from the attack. Others weren't so lucky. Kirito saw even some of his closest friends, Klein and Silica, perish in the flames, and screamed out for them.

"Sampson!" Lisbeth shouted as well, as she saw her husband trapped in the fires. She charged for the dragon, and threw a divine fireball at Embyrs' head. The dragon looked at her, and opened its maw. The massive beast flapped its wings, and flew towards her younger counterpart. The force of the take-off knocked players back again. Driven mad by seeing Sampson die, Lisbeth charged at full speed, activated her Paladin Mode, and flew, head on, straight into the dragon's maw.

Now up close, she could tell that Embyrs was much larger than Smuldur. Flying into the mouth was like diving down into a bottomless pit, and as she went in, she struck whatever she could. Even though she was mostly skeletal, there was lots of actual flesh around the dragon's mouth and torso. Lisbeth was soon deep in the dragon's throat, and as her invincibility mode ended, the next stream of flames poured out, and there was no escape. Lisbeth perished in fire.

As the large dragon turned to cast its flames down towards the ground, the Angels of Aincrad and Valkyries of Vearth picked up as many players as they could, to save them. Many on the ground died. Those who didn't were players like Zeeka, who had exceptional shielding capabilities.

Klover broke free of his saving grace to drop down on the dragon's head in the middle of its breath attack. He held out his hand, and his axe flew back to him. It glowed blue again, and when he crashed into the dragon's head, he drove the weapon into its skull, dealing a massive amount of damage. That wasn't all. The ice that followed snuffed out the breath weapon, ending it early, and saving players… including Lisbeth.

Lisbeth's reincarnation activated, and then she sliced her way free of Embyr's throat, and went back on the offensive. "We have to ground her!" Lily shouted. "Everyone in the air, push her down!" They all charged down to the dragon, but even as each of them tried to drag her down, she was much too strong.

"Her wings!" Kirito shouted as he started to run across her back towards her wings. "Go for the wings!" He started to slash at the wings, but of course, not even his Silver Steel Elucidators could break through those bones.

Klover kept bashing at the monster's head, and Lisbeth flew around to join him for a brief moment, hitting it with another Divine Fireball. Then, however, she grabbed hold of Klover, and flew him towards the dragon's back. "Use your major attack, ground this bitch!" Klover was shocked at first, being plucked up like that, but then nodded. Lisbeth let him go flying down towards one of the wing joints. His axe glowed blue once more, and he slammed it into the monster. Its wing snapped off, and the boss plummeted towards the ground.

The force of the impact left almost everyone stunned. A few players, including Xaela, were crushed by the impact. Michiko saw her lover fall victim to the fall, and reached out. Inside, she was starting to falter, and it was showing as her will took a dive. The mourning was short-lived, as the dragon stirred once more, getting up after the daze.

Before Embyrs got to her feet, a huge spire of stone shot up through her head, finishing her off. The stone spire split in two, and crumbled around itself. At its center, Zeeka stood, and huffed, nearly out of energy and mana. She got a pop up, and looked at it. "Do I want to change my class?" she asked. She shook her head, and hit the red X, and then confirmed her choice. "No… Primal Shaman kicks ass…"

Kirito fell to his knees, and looked through the player list. The battle had claimed more lives than the rest of the dungeon combined… more than twice that. "How many are left?" Klover asked him.

"Eighty-three," Kirito said after counting. "And… Silica, Klein… Sampson, Xaela, Michiko... Eulsam in the last battle… Wait… Asuna?"

Heathcliff looked through the list as well. "My Asuna," he said. "From the alternate timeline." He pointed out the slanted number two next to her name. "Crystal… Amberol. Even many of my forces were eliminated."

Klover took a breath, counting his personal losses as well. He stood up then, and looked down to Kirito. "It's not over," he said.

Kirito stood up, and shook it off for now. He gritted his teeth and ignored the pain of loss inside of him. "Heathcliff," he said, turning to him. "You designed this dungeon?"

Heathcliff shook his head. "I didn't design any of this. I merely allowed Salamandraus to be put into the game."

"Regardless," Klover said. "The time for blame is later. We all made the choice to embark on this mission. We knew what we faced."

Kirito looked around, and went over to Asuna, who sat motionless on the ground, looking down at the dirt. "Asuna…"

"How many more of us are going to die to Salamandraus?" she asked. "The final boss will be even harder than this one. Can we even do it?"

"More good news," Heathcliff said. "You only need to get him to his third phase. Once he goes volcano, outside help can come again. My fallen Angels and Valkyries will rejoin the battle. Even if there are no players left, we will finish this fight."

"Everyone!" Kirito shouted. "The final boss lies before us! Prepare for the worst. Remember that none of us entered here expecting to survive today. We have all lost friends here… but it will likely be our destiny to die with them today. We are not done yet… And we have to move on! For all of Vearth!" He was quiet after that, and he sheathed his swords to head onward. "Sachi," he said. "Lead the way…"

As they walked on, the players started to go through their experience gains. By now, almost everyone got a new ability. Asuna as well looked through her options, and chose her next major ability.

_Salamandraus, the God of Fire_

As the remaining players continued on, they found themselves going back the way they came and taking yet another path downward. The halls were cleared now of both dragons and demons, and it was a straight path to the final boss.

"His first phase will be like the player class of a knight," Kirito said. "That means a shield and longsword fighting style. He'll have fire spells, and the same constant burning passive that has plagued us since we got into this dungeon. He'll also have a set of fiery wings which he can attack with."

"The first phase isn't what we're worried about," Asuna said. "It's his next two phases that'll kill us."

"A six armed, four winged elemental," Klover said. "Each arm wielding a blazing sword, each wing a weapon of its own. And a long tail mimicking the tails of the serpents that we faced at the dungeon's beginning. We'll be separated, and it'll take multiple tanks to take his hits."

"Eulsam originally wanted ten tanks to face him at a time," Diabel said. "Heathcliff, Lily, four other Valkyries and myself… that makes seven."

"Asuna, Lisbeth and Klover makes ten," Kirito said. He opened the player list. "That's it. There's no more tanks. We need a different strategy."

"Lisbeth, Heathcliff and myself are all Paladins," Diabel said. "We'll form up into three groups, each with a Paladin class. Paladin Mode has a thirty second duration, and a three minute cooldown. We'll fight for thirty seconds, then activate Paladin, and hold him solo for thirty seconds more. Then we'll switch tank groups."

"He has too many weapons," Kirito said. "If you take him solo, you won't be able to hold his attention properly, and he'll slaughter the other melee players. Split into three groups, but the other tanks will have to stay with him the whole time, even when you activate Paladin."

"The bosses aren't stupid," Asuna said. "They will just stop attacking you once they see you're not taking damage."

"Asuna is right," Lisbeth said. "We should avoid using Paladin unless we have to in order to survive. Let's split into two groups of five. Each tank will be responsible for blocking two weapons."

"I'll go back to healing," Zeeka said. "I bet I can almost solo heal the tanks. But to be safe, I think I should have someone helping me with it… I'll organize the healers."

"DPS," Kirito said. "Like the serpents, we can attack his tail without trying to crowd around his head, or his torso, rather. There's no need for the melee classes to engage him head on."

"First tank group," Klover said. "Heathcliff, Diabel, myself, and two Valkyries of Vearth. Second group… Lisbeth, Asuna, Lily, and two Valkyries… Second tank group should hold through the whole first phase, so first group can come in for the start of the second, fresh and ready to go."

"Ranged DPS," Sinon said. "Stay away from the tanks. I'm betting he'll have some mid-range AOE's for us. Healers should do the same."

"Two groups of healers," Zeeka said. "Myself and two others stay tight with the tanks. One healer will help me heal them, the other will heal and shield us. Everyone else pick… two or three players each, and keep them alive."

The group reached the entrance to the hall approaching the throne of Salamandraus. They stopped. Guarding the last gates were a series of huge elementals. Klover called his inner circle ahead, and Kirito moved with him. "There's four of them," Kirito said. "Heathcliff and two Valkyries, not Lily, on one. Asuna and Lisbeth on one. Lily and two Valkyries on one. Diabel and Klover on one. DPS, focus all of your attacks on one at a time. Asuna and Lisbeth's first, then Diabel and Klover's. Then Heathcliff's, then Lily's. Zeeka, see if you can keep the tanks up by yourself… use this as practice."

The tanks split up into their small groups, and each of them charged in to pull the four elementals. Each set of tanks took an elemental to a far corner of the hallway, to keep them away from each other, and from the players. Asuna and Lisbeth pulled theirs closer to the group, and the players began fighting them.

The elementals blasted flames out in all directions, which damaged players, but compared to previous challenges, they were a cakewalk. One by one, they brought the huge elementals down, and it let them practice their efforts for the battle against Salamandraus.

The halls were huge, and towering. It was like walking down two football fields with a ceiling as high as the sky. The stones that built the structure were a mix of blacks, reds and oranges, and huge, blazing lanterns floated above their heads, lighting the entire hall.

When they reached and entered the throne room, it was a massive chamber, with ornate decorated floor tiles. At its center was a throne of volcanic rocks, and Salamandraus sat on top of it. The last player entered the room. Unlike the rest of the boss rooms, this room did not lock players in, but the boss fight was initiated.

"I have watched you," Salamandraus said. His voice was powerful, and sounded like the crackling of flames. "For years as you have journeyed through the world. Ever since I was freed from my prison beneath the earth, you have grown to become powerful warriors… you have gained allies from realms beyond your own, and have survived even the end of the world. And then, you did me the favor of entering these halls, and disposing of the heirs of the flame who did nothing but fight about who would hold the torch of my power, plotting against me but unable to even make a move because each was so full of pride. You… have brought balance to the planes of fire, and now, I rule it with absolute authority once more. But if you venture further, if you wish to fight me… your journey will end here. You are certainly worthy of becoming champions of fire. I would make you immune to the eternal flames that I will bring forth to consume this world. But of course…" He got up from his throne, a rolling, swirling flame, with core of molten stone and armor of obsidian. "I could not expect those who call themselves champions of this world, to watch me destroy it so soon."

"Everyone ready?" Kirito asked, looking to his players. They all readied their weapons, and prepared to fight. "Asuna…"

Asuna nodded, and she and Lisbeth led the charge. Asuna activated Valkyrie, and the two of them flew towards Salamandraus. Asuna led with her crackling spear, throwing it at Salamandraus. The other Valkyries did the same, but Salamandraus spun around, and deflected those weapons away with a simple whirlwind. When the two of them struck with their swords, he deflected their strikes into the air with his shield, and swung with his sword. The two flew up, and were replaced by Lily and the two Valkyries. They engaged the next series of blows, while Asuna and Lisbeth attacked from the sides, their moves divided between striking and blocking incoming attacks.

The rest of the players began their assault, a flurry of spells and arrows coming down on Salamandraus, pelting him constantly. The melee players, including Kirito, charged in and began to slash and hack wherever they could. Salamandraus moved fast, though, faster than any of them. With his sword, he blocked many strikes, and as he became overwhelmed, and the first tiny bits of damage started coming in on him, he roared, and a blast of flames shot out with such power, that every player was hit, and blow back. Healers started a quick recovery for everyone, and Salamandraus charged at Lily. He flew towards her, and she activated her Valkyrie State, and another defensive ability to block his incoming attacks. Each strike of his sword was strong enough to cause her to shift backwards, and soon, she was backed against a wall.

Lisbeth hurled a Divine Fireball at him, and he ignored it. Asuna retrieved her spear, and hurled it at him once again, only for it to be knocked away with a wing. The two charged at the fire god, and slashed at him with swords as other players started to catch up. His health was slowly being brought down.

Salamandraus whipped around, giving much needed relief to Lily, as more players piled up behind him. With a swing of his sword, he threw them back a few paces, and then, he slammed his sword against the ground. Fire shot from the strike, and singed the players as they were trying to get up. From behind, Lily finally managed to drive one of those great Valkyrie attacks into him. Then, Sinon fired off her Starbolt Arrows at him, each blasting him with some damage. He was still just barely under the ninety percent mark though.

Salamandraus jumped into the air, and slammed against the ground. A few melee attackers were caught in a blast of fire that sent them flying back. One of them hit the wall, and died on impact. Klover moved in, and slammed his axe against the ground, causing spires of ice to shoot out in Salamandraus's direction. The fire god simply turned, and charged him. The ice melted in his wake, and Klover blocked the first strike with his shield, only to be knocked away with Salamandraus's own shield.

The Valkyries all led in, each activating lightning bolt attacks, and dancing strikes of lightning against the boss. The damage was minimal however. Asuna went in next, and after recalling her spear, the weapon flying to her hand, she raced in and drove it into Salamandraus's armor. The fighting continued like this, where the melee players were constantly being thrown back in the wake of the massive blows by the fire god.

Rasta, the demon monk, unfurled his wings, and charged in to attack Salamandraus head on. He was fast with his staff, but Salamandraus was faster. After Rasta made a heavy strike, which Salamandraus blocked with his shield, that huge, burning longsword was thrust into the player-boss's body, killing him. While he was busy felling the player, more moved in from behind, landing some hits on him. Salamandraus performed another whirlwind, and knocked everyone back. "Pitiful," he said. His health read at seventy-nine percent. "Champions of the mortal realm trying to fight against a god. You never stood a chance."

While Salamandraus was taunting the players, Kirito charged him, and went into his Starburst Stream, and sliced away at the boss as much and as fast as he could. The boss managed to turn around, and was blocking a great deal of his attacks with his sword and shield. Kirito then put those weapons away, and drew two lesser quality swords. "Blade Dancer's Fury!" he screamed out, and began to drive those swords against Salamandraus's shield with everything he had. Each strike caused his weapon to break, but slowly, the fire god's shield was losing durability.

While Salamandraus was focused on Kirito, more players came in to attack, and all dealt a fair share of damage. Before much longer, Salamandraus whipped around, knocking all the players back. He threw his shield away, and dropped to a knee. "Everything!" he shouted. "Will burn!" There was an explosion of fire, and then a constant, burning heat that the healers struggled to keep up through. Salamandraus's throne room was starting to crumble, spits of lava and flames jutting out from random places, and the intricate stonework breaking apart. Salamandraus's body appeared to explode, and grow. Each explosion yielded one of his new limbs, and lastly, he seemed to sink into the gorund, only to re-emerge from the head of a huge, winding tail of lava.

"Phase two!" Klover shouted. "Tanks, get in there!" Klover and his group of tanks charged for Salamandraus, engaging him as he swing all six swords around wildly. He circled around the players as they tried to form up, and then circled back over his tail, separating them.

The players had an easier time attacking this phase, only needing to strike at the snake-like body of the boss. The tanks and healers now had it the hardest. As Klover and the others parried and blocked incoming attacks, more attacks were still getting past their defenses. With Zeeka healing though, they were fairly safe. She cast a spell, and streams of water shot from her fists, and swirled around them, appearing to wash away the wounds they were getting.

The players fought as hard as they could, but some were beginning to succumb to the heat, and the healers were starting to have trouble keeping up. Kirito moved forward to join the tanks, parrying away as many sword strikes as he could. When it came time for the tanks to switch off, Asuna and her group rushed in, and Klover and the others backed off to fight the tail, and let their energy build back up.

Before long, Salamandraus turned to Kirito, and focused almost entirely on him. "I recognize you," he said. "I nearly killed you in my temple. Did you think it would be so easy to finish me off? Bringing your group down here to fight me like this? Let me show you the true power of the planes of fire!" Salamandraus drove all six swords into the ground, and for a moment, the players were all getting easy, free shots against him.

Kirito stopped though, and turned to run back as he shouted to the others. "Back off! Something's coming." The ground started to melt away, turning to lava. Zeeka casted a quick spell to try and freeze the ground, but it melted instantly again. The tanks were turning to run, but another ring of lava was forming around them, trapping them all.

Salamandraus redrew his swords, and went after Kirito. Kirito turned around as he was trapped, and started to defend himself. As he held up his Elucidators though, Salamandraus seemed to stop. He held his weapons high, and they all started to glow. "Fury…" Salamandraus began to state his ability. "Of the Eternal Flame!" Then, the boss started to fight at incredible speed, each sword move against Kirito faster than he could see, and slashing at him, hurting him. His health was quickly dropping, and he was thrown by the weapons. Salamandraus charged forward to keep up the assault.

The other tanks ran after Kirito, and Zeeka did all she could to keep the lava in the stage from melting completely. It took away from her healing, though. Fortunately, Kirito was knocked towards Leafa, who immediately turned to shield, and then heal her cousin as more attacks started to come. Lisbeth flew at Salamandraus, and whipped around in front of the attacks as she activated Paladin mode. Salamandrause turned away from her, and went back to fight the other tanks.

Klover and the others were already moving back in as they saw what happened to Kirito. Klover led with as many special, ice-type attacks as he could, but not one seemed to phase the fire god. Salamandraus waited until all of the tanks were surrounding him, and then flew into a whirlwind, tossing them all back. A Valkyrie and Diabel both landed in the lava, and couldn't escape. They burned out completely. Asuna's Valkyrie State was still on cooldown, and she looked up to see the god charging her. She held up her shield, and dropped her weapon. Salamandraus's attacks, no matter how powerful, would break her legendary shield. Once he saw this, he reared back, and like a dragon, breathed fire down on her. It was white-hot flames like Embyrs, and her health started to fall dramatically. She was only saved when Lily activated her Ultimate Shield, and protected her from the attack, but destroyed herself in the process.

Salamandraus stopped his assault, and Asuna fled before he could strike again with his swords. Heathcliff came in from behind, and started to strike. When the god turned to attack him, he activated his Paladin ability, and for a moment, held the god with him while he could not be hurt. Salamandraus didn't stay there, once he saw this, he turned back to where he had left Kirito. When he did, Kirito was charged at him with his swords. Salamandraus threw up one blade in defense, and blocked the attack. With another, and another, he struck at Kirito, and hurting him badly and knocking him to the ground.

Klover was the next to move into the defense, and blocked a few incoming strikes with his shield. He wasn't able to go into an attack like that however. He did see that Salamandraus's health pool was still dropping. It was below forty percent now. Despite the trouble the tanks were having, the damage dealers were doing just fine. With one more strike, Salamandraus broke Klover's shield, and he rolled away, blocking one, then another attack with his axe. The next came, and he was hit, and then another threw him into the air. Another knocked him away and he was thrown into a wall.

Before anything else could happen, Salamandraus howled out. His health was down and he was ready for the third phase. He dropped his weapons, and lava bubbled across the whole field. "Run for it!" someone shouted. The players all started to flee the room. Many were trapped though, and had to jump and dodge explosions and lava pools as they made their way for the halls.

"You cannot defeat me!" Salamandraus shouted out. "I am the flame eternal! I am the fire of destiny! I will destroy all!" He exploded, and magma began to fill the room. As the players ran, the lava flowed out into the hallway, and started to explode and pour from the walls. The whole dungeon shook, and as they ran, many players were caught in the molten rock.

Kirito and Asuna were at the front of the charge, and they ran all the way up and out the way they came. Soon, they reached the pit where they had defeated the Molten Titan, and were making their way up a new path that seemed to lead to the top of the mountain. As the lava bubbled up, and started to burst from little holes here and there, many players just weren't fast enough to get out alive.

Kirito and Asuna finally made it to the top, and climbed out onto the edge of the mountain. "Now what?" Lisbeth asked as she emerged, and hovered. "This mountain's going to explode, right? How are we going to survive that?"

Kirito opened the player list, and did a quick count. "Thirty-eight," he said. "We've got thirty-eight players to finish the battle, and slay Salamandraus."

As he spoke though, the Angels of Aincrad and the Valkyries of Vearth began to fall from the sky like stars. A few of them exploded into light and their energy formed a shield around the players. Just as that happened, the mountain exploded, and lava poured in a powerful stream out of the opposite side of the mountain. When the dust started to settle, players could see their opponent. The final phase of Salamandraus had begun.

He was huge, towering higher than the mountain itself, and from his backside, lava and magma poured out, liquid death rocketing and smoking all around. He wielded a huge, obsidian axe, and looked down at the players. He didn't speak, and simply swung that huge axe down. The players ran to either side, as the mountain was practically split in two by the axe, lava overflowing and trailing down the scar.

Kirito and Asuna looked at each other, and then turned to the boss before them. Zeeka cast a spell, and it hit the two of them. "I can only use lava walking on two players at a time!" she shouted. "Don't waste it!" The two nodded to her, and then charged down towards the boss. The handful of remaining melee players, including Klover, had very little idea of what to do now.

Klover slammed his axe into the ground, and it glowed bright blue. So did his eyes, and soon, his whole form was a ball of blue light. He whirled around, and hurled his weapon at Salamandraus in a battle cry. "Final Cleave!" he had shouted as his body vanished in the light. The axe struck the boss, and exploded in a blast of ice and snow, dealing massive amounts of damage, still relatively small by percentage, to the god of fire.

As the Angels and Valkyries fought on, they were just as easily killed off as they were revived, erupting flames catching them and killing them instantly. The ranged players had their fair share of troubles. Sinon fired off her Starbolt Arrows once again, and that helped move the bar down some, but after that, her attacks did next to nothing.

Zeeka went back into attack mode. She started casting spells, throwing lightning bolts, boulders, rock spires… everything she could think of against the boss. Salamandraus swung his weapon again, this time, wide, and low. He took out a decent chunk of the players that way, and their group was quickly cut down to twenty-three. The players who dodged rolled away from the battle, tumbling down the mountain, or worse, into the erupting volcano. Few of them managed to stay in the game.

As lava started to bubble over the rim, there was less and less room to stand. Soon, even Zeeka could do nothing more than keep herself afloat. She turned up to the boss, and shook her head. She began casting her final spell, and as she sank into the burning lava and began to scream out in pain, a final, desperate lightning bolt struck the boss.

Before Salamandraus was even ready to swing his weapon again, it was down to just Kirito, Asuna, and the immortal players. What remained of the Angels and Valkyries started to perform their final attacks, each knocking the boss's health down a little more. Another swing of the axe knocked many of them out of the sky.

Kirito and Asuna looked at each other, and for a moment, stopped fighting. "Kirito," Asuna said. "The Angels… the Valkyries. They'll win this."

Kirito nodded, and looked up to the sky. Then he shook his head. "Salamandraus is using his attacks to hit them before they can even attack…"

"What will we do?" Kirito ran back to the edge of the volcano, and Asuna followed after him, not sure of the plan. "Kirito?"

"Fly," Kirito said. "Get me up high and get me at his head. If we can score some good critical hits, we might be able to make it work." Asuna nodded, and engaged her Valkyrie State once again. She pulled Kirito up by his arm, and flew up high. "Head back to the ground!" Kirito said once they started to reach optimal height. "Keep his attention as long as you can!"

"Hai!" Asuna started to spin around, to throw Kirito into the monster's head.

"One last thing!" Kirito said, just as he was letting go. "Take this…" He left in her hand his half of the skull charm the both of them wore. She looked at it in confusion, and then realized the implication of this strategy.

"Kirito!" she shouted at him. She went to fly towards him, but only to be stopped by a smoldering boulder flying through the air. She landed on the rim of the volcano, and looked up. The Angels and the Valkyries had simply stopped coming. The next thing she saw was the huge, obsidian axe coming down on her head. She dropped her sword, and held her shield up tight. It hit hard, and threatened to push her down into the molten lava.

Meanwhile, as Kirito flew towards the enemy, he narrowed his gaze, and readied his weapons. "I'm sorry, Asuna," he said to himself. "But one of us… you… have to live!" His swords glowed, and his whole form began to glow with light. "Final… Sword!" As he approached the head of the boss, he crossed his blades over one another, and then uncrossed them. As he vanished, blades of light struck out, extending far beyond the usual reach of his swords, and cutting through the god of fire.

The obsidian axe let up in its strength, and then flew backwards as Salamandraus roared out in pain, nearly dead, and shrinking down in size. The eruption stopped, and soon, he was back to his first phase form, with just one percent of his health left. He looked over to Asuna. Without thinking, Asuna picked up her sword and charged at him, in her Valkyrie state. With one percent of his health, she saw, Salamandraus now had the exact same amount of hit points as she did. She went into her Lightning Flash Assault, and warped behind him to deliver a final strike to his back. The lava around him all hardened, and in his body, it hardened. The flames were slowly snuffed from his body as that sword was buried in his back.

"The eternal flames…" he muttered. "Snuffed out… like a candle… in the wind." And then, there was no more fire, only smoke and steam rising from his stone form.

Asuna let go of her sword and took two steps back. Shield still in hand, and Valkyrie State ending, she fell to her knees and cried out to the sky. Two hundred players went with her into the Halls of the Fire God, and only she emerged victorious. It wasn't fair, she thought. She had won, but she had now lost everything.

She leaned forward, and looked at the ground, tears starting to fall from her eyes. Her own health bar was low. She looked up to where her sword was buried in the stone figure, and reached up to grab it, but stopped.

_Remember me_

She recalled the words of her own daughter, and fell to the ground again.

Heathcliff appeared next to her, standing tall. "Asuna," he said. She did not respond. "You've won. As I had hoped, there would be a player left standing, at least one of you, to witness how this world ends. You deserve that much." Heathcliff pulled out the item that he had taken from Kirito's loot, and it appeared in front of him. The Heart of the Earth was a seemingly ever-changing globe of metal framework, surrounding a green light. He tapped it, and hit a confirmation button. The object folded in on itself, and then disappeared.

"Kirito… is dead," she said. "Lisbeth… Silica… Leafa. Everyone. I have no one left here to protect. I shouldn't have come back."

Heathcliff looked down at her, and sighed. "Yes," he said. "It would be unfortunate for you, wouldn't it?"

"You don't care," she said. "You've always had your own plans… bigger plans."

"Yes," he said. He looked up to the sky, which he had ordered his immortal players to begin clearing of the ashes. "Kirito would have wanted you to live… and in his honor, I will make sure you make it out of here. And I know you now have a reason to live beyond what's in the game. Your daughter, Yuichi—"

"What kind of mother can I be to her?" she asked. "I let her father and everyone else who would have been her heroes die. I know I can't take my own life, for her sake. But until the day I do die… I know it's all I'll be able to think about it. I'm not sure if I can be a good mother to her… knowing that…"

"Fortunate then, isn't it," Heathcliff said. "That I have one good trick left up my sleeve." Asuna looked up at him. "I couldn't risk this becoming known… not even to you. And I couldn't do it before now, because a system administrator would be alerted to something like this, but…" He held out his hand, and began to cast a spell. As he spoke the words of magic, bright lights shot from the ground, and each of the players' bodies started to reform in shapes of light. When the spell finished, they all became whole again.

Kirito took a deep gasp, and shot up, coughing. He looked around, and before he could get any kind of bearing, Asuna reached for him, and hugged him tightly, crying. Kirito looked around, and then to Heathcliff.

"GothGod is no longer in control of the game. Now… no one is," Heathcliff said. "He can't take this ability away… and I'm not the only one with it. All of the Angels of Aincrad, and all of the Valkyries of Vearth… neigh… all of the fallen players from both worlds regardless of class or guild have had this ability bestowed upon them. All over Vearth, right now, they are going to every edge of the explored world… and every player who has died within the last fifteen days is being brought back. The time for this game to end draws near…"

Kirito and Asuna had stopped listening, and were enjoying a passionate kiss on the ground. It ended shortly though, and the two of them stood up, and held one another's hands. They looked northward, towards the mainland, towards Newberg… towards GothGod and the end of the game. As the ashen sky was being cleared, they could see the sun was rising.


	40. Author's Notes and Updates: 02-1-2015

**WARNING! This section may contain _spoilers_ for all chapters! Clear labels about what could be spoiled is written in the update headers!**

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><p><strong><span>18/15 - Spoilers (Chapter 27)!**

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><p>Alright, so... in order to stop from clogging up the review board with author's comments, I've decided to go ahead and make one of these.<p>

In response to the review from "guest:"

Okay, so I went to the Sword Art wiki to look this one up. I don't recall this much detail ever being in the show. The beta test did go on for longer than one month, though (beginning at the start of summer, which according to a quick google search begins in July in Japan, and went until the end of August). Kirito also explicitly states in the show that it took him two months to get to the eight floor. The wiki also says the highest anyone got was the tenth floor.

So, perhaps I will change my story to match up more accurately with the show's canon once I finish book 1, and go back to edit it out at the same time I fix the Yuuki situation and weed out all of the typos and little grammatical slip-ups. Right now though, this detail is not that important.

I am somewhat surprised that after 27 chapters and 167,000 words, this is what tripped you up. It speaks mountains, though (even if you only wrote a couple sentences). If this is one of the details that's more important to my readers (so important that it's the big thing that pulls you out of the story), it will certainly weigh heavily on me as a writer, and I'll keep that in mind as I keep writing the story, and when I go back to edit it.

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><p><strong><span>9:30 PM - No Spoilers<span>**

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><p>I am aware that I accidentally posted the same chapter. I clicked the wrong option for upload, but I have already changed it back. The site told me it could take up to thirty minutes for the changes to take effect. Thank you! (of course now you won't read this for another 30 minutes...)<p>

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><p><strong><span>111/15 - Spoilers (Chapters 27, 24 and all of Act III (at the bottom of this update))!**

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><p><strong>No Spoiler Update:<strong> I'm not sure how long it will take for me to get the next chapter up after finishing Act II, it could take a couple days (like last time I finished an Act) for me to work out my timeline.

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><p><strong>No Spoiler Update: <strong>In Act II, I'm looking back and thinking I made a few mistakes, now that I've come up with more ideas for how to flesh out Act III. As a result I have gone through (quickly) and made some pre-edit edits to some of the things I've done. The following changes have occurred:

-Yuuki has been removed from the first seven chapters. The changes are all minor, but they are rather quickly done, so there may be a couple inconsistencies in those chapters around where she was edited out (gender mix-ups, group size references, etc).

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><p><strong>Chapters 27 &amp; 24 Spoilers: <strong>Changes to Act II cont.

-In Chapter 27, I edited Eulsam's achievement for accuracy with the show's canon, after deciding that would be the better way to go about things. It now reads that he and his guild were the first to reach the tenth floor (canonically, the highest the beta players reached in beta SAO)

-In Chapter 24 I added a couple bits and pieces about Eulsam in the battle. What I added were interactions with Diabel, in order to better foreshadow his involvement in the SAO beta. It's also another relationship I can use for flashback scenes in the upcoming final act of the book. These are somewhat small changes compared to the whole chapter, so I'll be writing out the additions here, in case you don't want to re-read the whole chapter to get a couple details:

During the battle against "The Darkness We Have Created:"

_Eulsam whipped around from his spot on the battlefield as he swung his sword. It was intercepted by Diabel, who had reappeared on the battlefield. "Diabel…" Eulsam said. Diabel glared at him and charged into an attack, knocking back Eulsam's swords for a short while, but ultimately perishing as Eulsam turned inside of Diabel's sword swing, and chopped at his collar inside of his defenses._

And after that same battle:

_As Eulsam put away his swords, the image of Diabel appeared before him once again. "Diabel," Eulsam said. "Don't apologize… I should have been there with you."_

_Diabel shook his head. "You weren't," he said. "You were lucky and you got out, and there's no shame in that. I never held a grudge against you. Don't I still owe you one, anyways?"_

_Eulsam nodded and laughed. "Always… Too late for that now."_

_"It's never too late…"_

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><p><strong>ACT III Chapter Title Spoilers:<strong> And as for the sort of spoiler-y stuff, here's Act III's chapter titles! 31: Psychopath, 32: Lover's Quarrel, 33: Retribution, 34: Logout, 35: Login, 36: The Greatest Story Ever Told, 37: Flight of the Valkyrie, 38: The Angels of Aincrad, 39: The Flames of Eternity, 40: War & Peace, 41: Justice, 42: Liberation Day, 43: The Final Boss, 44/Epilogue: A New Day Will Come: Your Day.

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><p><strong>General Spoiler: <strong>Final word: I do have plans for a second book title "Sword Dancer's Chronicles: The Sands of Time." At this time I cannot reveal the plot, the main characters, or anything else without completely spoiling major plot and character points in Act III!

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><p><strong>115/15 - No Spoilers**

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><p>So I read up on a recent review, and I have taken into account what was said. I won't be going after these new goals any time soon, I plan on finishing the first book before I do, but here's a heads up on some major changes I'll be making in the first 10 or so chapters that will affect the rest of the story.<p>

-First, the AmuSphere couldn't possibly be used to accomplish memory alteration, mind control, etc. It was established in the show, and to be perfectly honest, it was a fact I pretty much ignored when I first started writing, because I didn't really know all about where I was going in the story, and it didn't seem like an important enough detail to focus on at the time, since I was just starting out. Going into the future, and when I go back to make a major edit on the whole thing, I'll be changing this. They won't be using AmuSpheres, they'll be using another device that comes after the AmuSphere. I figure the story will go something like this:

Laughing Coffin manages to win over someone in charge of the development of the AmuSphere, and also manages to infiltrate one or two very powerful, very wealthy corporations that deal with gaming. They create a bunch of false records of a defect found in the AmuSphere, that leads to a mass recall about a year before the second death game begins. "But no worries," says another software developer. "While AmuSphere falls, we rise! We've developed a new generation of full dive gear, and since we are absorbing the company that makes them, we'll be happily shipping out this new technology as a replacement!" Little does the world know that this new full dive tech is designed with Laughing Coffin's plans in mind.

And thus, the AmuSphere plot hole shall be resolved!

-Second, as the review stated:

_"Couple that with the behavior you have canon characters displaying - just one example? Kirito leaving newbie characters behind, sure. Leaving in the middle of the night with no way for them to determine who's alive or dead? That's bound to spawn rumors and mistrust, and after Kirito's experience as the Beater in Aincrad he would _know_ that was a bad idea. And if he didn't, Klein and Asuna would both sit on him and remind him."_

That's a perfectly valid point. Again, when I started writing this, I didn't really have everything worked out. I was still getting used to writing the characters, and over time I've gotten a little more used to it. I'm aware that my characterization of the canon characters isn't spot on, but it's not going to be because they aren't my characters. No matter how much time and effort I put into this, there's no way I'll ever be able to nail the canon characters perfectly. Can I do better? I'm sure I can. But it's not something to stress over. When I go back for the big edit/rewrite after I'm finished with book one, scrutinizing how I have all of the characters behaving is going to be a pretty big priority. Some of the events I've written might change in small or large ways, but they won't in any way change the major events of the series.

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><p><strong>122/15 - Spoilers (Book 2/Chapter 36)**

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><p><strong>No Spoiler Update:<strong> Just a general update for you all. I am currently in the process of writing Chapter 37: The Flight of the Valkyrie, and it's looking to be another long one. In fact, you could probably expect that all chapters henceforth will be 10,000 words or longer, as I approach the end of the first book. As such, it will take longer to write them. Another reason for continued delays is that after writing more than 200,000 words in about a month's time, I'm starting to get tired of. It's not writer's block, at all. As I've mentioned before, I already have the timeline planned out to the end of the first book, but I'm needing to take some more breaks as of late. I expect that I'll have Chapter 37 up some time this coming weekend, or, if things go smoothly, as early as tonight, or Friday night.

**Chapter 36/Book 2 Spoilers:** Going into the future, I do have plans to continue the story after the first book. The second book will focus on the story of Kirigaya Yuichi, as she traverses through time-travel scenarios (as mentioned in Chapter 36). In Book 2, you're going to see a world where the real world and virtual one are more closely linked than ever before, and young Yuichi will have to constantly hop back and forth between the two worlds, fighting monsters and completing tasks in the virtual one, while kicking some ass in the real world as well. The plot will basically go like this (but this is by no means written in stone, yet): while in the game, Kirito and Asuna run into an old enemy who takes control of the world around them, and kidnaps the couple, holding them hostage within the game. In order to save them, Yuichi will have to complete various missions and traverse through time in order to free her parents. Lives will be at stake, but those lives will be selectively chosen as Yuichi goes forth on her quest. While she's doing all of this in the virtual world, she'll be working with the IVRTF and heroes from Book 1 in the real world to track down a series of enemies escaping the virtual world in order to try and kill her and her friends. It... will take some time to explain it all in detail, and I'll save that for when I actually write Book 2. For now, here's a list of characters you can expect to see playing a major role in the second book:

-Kirigaya Yuichi/Sachui

-Samuel/Eulsam, as a mentor-like character

-Iogame Michiko/Michiko, as an IVRTF Agent

-?/Wrath & ?/Ruin, Sampson and Lisbeth's future children, as of now, unnamed. They take on the IGN's Wrath and Ruin after the twin eldest dragons in Book 1.

-There will probably be some more children of the main characters in SAO and SDC: DO, but I've yet to determine any names

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><p><strong>130/2015 - Minor Spoilers (Chapter 39/Book 2)**

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><p><strong>No Spoiler Update: <strong>Hello everyone. Just posting this in light of the next chapter to let you all know that I am still alive and writing. There are several reasons why chapter 39 is taking so long to finish, so I wanted to give you guys an update on that. For starters, a couple opportunities have come into my life that are going to be taking up more of my time going into the future. First off, I got to shadow a family friend at his job at the local news office, and this is starting to look like something that may happen again in the future but it's too early to tell. Second, a friend of mine are sitting down and discussing some of his life story, and I am planning on writing that into a publishable piece of NonFiction writing. Long story short, he was kidnapped by his Mother several years ago and taken to Russia, and made it back to the US a few years later. I can't give out too many of the details at this time, but that's the gist of it. If you're interested in reading such a story, I'll find a way to keep you updated, though doesn't make it easy by blocking all links. I may actually gut my current tumblr and make a new one where I will post future updates, and possibly post excerpts of other writing for those of you who are reason: Chapter 39 is really long so far. I haven't even finished it and it's already breaking the 15K word marker. I'll explain why...

**Chapter 39: **Chapter 39 is all centered on the Halls of the Fire God dungeon, where the players will battle Salamandraus at the very end. I wanted this dungeon to bring back little pieces of the whole story, in terms of PVE content, and amp up the difficulty. Here's what's coming in the last major PVE battle: a five boss epic dungeon with a cap of 200 players. The Champions of Vearth will bring in about 120 players, and the Angels of Aincrad and the Valkyries of Vearth will bring in the other 80 (not exact numbers, just a guestimate). The bosses will go as follows:

Twin Serpents: Or more technically, eight sets of twin serpents. These will be nearly the same as the first major boss I introduce in the game, Flareradra, the blazing serpent at the end of Temple of Fire, also known then as the Avatar of Salamandraus. The 200 player group splits into 25-man parties and each has to take on a duo of these things.

The Molten Titan: A hit point giant similar to a few of the bosses seen throughout the story. This is possibly the second-longest battle after Salamandraus himself. The monster is a titanic elemental of magma and fire.

The Demon Prince: A player-boss classed NPC (Demon Swordsman) who not only dual wields, but has four arms. Elements of this leg of the dungeon will be reminiscent of the Ruins of Al'Kuraz. The Demon Prince himself will be one tough enemy to beat.

Embyrs, the Dragon Queen of Old: An undead dragon player-boss (Dragon Swordmaster). She was Lisbeth before Lisbeth, and lore-wise was Smuldur's mother. She and her brood have been brought back from the dead, though that part of the story isn't really important since it's in-game lore and has little to do with the players trying to end the game itself.

Finally... Salamandraus, the God of Fire: Salamandraus will be the toughest PVE battle in the game.

I just finished writing up the battle against The Demon Prince yesterday, and because today has been so busy, I doubt I'll be writing any more of it today. So I've still got to write out the battle versus Embyrs, then the three-part battle against Salamandraus, and finally after that, the conclusion to the chapter which will lead into **Chapter 40: War & Peace**, all about the liberation of Newberg, the battle against the last of the player-killers (Laughing Coffin, escaped Red Hand and other, minor PK guilds), and the hunt for GothGod that follows and concludes with chapter **41: Justice**.

**No Spoiler Update: **I'm getting closer and closer to the end of the first book, and I'm pretty excited. I do plan to go back and edit once I'm finished, weed out inconsistencies, correct grammar and typos, add some colorful detail to many places where there wasn't any, and make a few major changes to how I portray the characters to make them act closer to what they ought to act like (either as I envision them for my own characters, or closer to the show's canon for canon characters). Here's some major inconsistencies I've already noted within the book a few things that will need to be fixed:

-Blade Dancer's Fury: At first, the ability is described as breaking the attacker's weapons to deal extra damage and deal major durability damage to an opponents gear as they try to block. I neglected that important bit of information when later, Kirito and his evil counterpart use the ability willy nilly without their weapons breaking. I will make it closer to my original description, and have them pull out secondary weapons that they don't mind breaking for the attack. This was important for two reasons: it made the attack more unique compared to Starburst Stream, and it also limited how the attack could be used by how many extra weapons the player could afford to break.

-Xaela's age (and possibly Michiko's, too): I stated at one point Michiko's age in an indirect manner (11 at the time SAO ended, I believe I said). This would make her 14 at the very start of the game, 15 when she becomes the Black Warden, and she would have just turned 18 recently. Xaela was always intended to be 6-12 months younger than her, and so way back in the first act, I will need to change her physical appearance and details to match, since then, I mentioned she looked no older than eighteen, which would be a HUGE overestimate. I don't recall if I made a similar mistake with Michiko, so I will need to double-check.

-General Lack of Characterization: In Act III, I decided to re-use characters that hadn't come up since the first couple chapters in the book. Now that I've worked out the details, I'll be trying to characterize those few a little more in their first appearances, to make them more memorable. I also plan on spending more time giving scenes for the characters that have had a general lack of "screen time," so to speak, and finally, I want to see if I can't develop more ideas for some special abilities for the other characters as well, so that they're matching up with the amount I'm giving Kirito and Asuna.

-System Details: Until now, I've counted very heavily on letting the characters drive the story without concentrating too much on how the system itself works. now that I've been writing for a while, I've figured out more of the little intricacies of the Vearth system, and I'll be including more explanation of the system itself throughout the book. I plan to find a way to fully explain the class system, player vital stats, and skills... God help me find a way to include those without making them too out of place. (Perhaps a scene where LC members in-custody are explaining the system mechanics to the IVRTF...)

-4 Years and No Full-Dive Upgrades: This has been an issue glaring me in the face ever since that one review. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I need to put something else in place of the AmuSphere. Not only should it not be possible to do what I'm doing with human consciousness with it, but after 4 years... they've got to come up with something anyways... just from a logical standpoint. Plus, I missed a golden opportunity to explain the advancement of technology in the 4 years since SAO. The AmuSphere was worn like a visor, which was a lot lighter and sexier than the big, clunky, Nerve Gear... so what's the next upgrade look like? Maybe something like the Scouters in DBZ, with the visor over just one eye, or maybe something without an eye-piece at all, just a little chip to show how far they've gone in just those 4 years. One thing's for sure though, in order for this new technology to fully replace everyone's AmuSpheres -and- have the sinister capabilities of trapping players in another Death Game, the Laughing Coffin conspiracy must run pretty deep...

-The Morals of Airing Player Deaths as Entertainment: I'm going to spend a lot more time diving into this unexplored aspect of the player footage. I always planned on adding more of these details, but won't be putting much thought into it until I actually get to the editing.

-So What's Going on in Earth 1.0?: I've skipped and grazed over a lot of real world events that have led to the end of the Laughing Coffin's control over the game. But maybe... maybe I should leave that area blank... Maybe that's a good opening for me, or even someone else to write about in the future.

About what I just said... I've already discussed this with one of my readers, but I am planning on (once I finish the edit) open up the world of Vearth for anyone to write in, and fill in all of the blank, undefined spaces... key in all of the untold stores of the second death game. This project will be called "Tales of Vearth." So if you've got ideas, keep those in mind, and after I'm finished with the edit, we can open a dialogue about it. Until then though, let me finish completing book 1 so that I have a complete picture of Vearth to reference.

**Tell Me Your Crazy Ideas!** No, seriously, I want to hear them. Don't send them in as reviews though, PM me if you've got any crazy ideas for characters, stories, or just to give more general feedback than actual reviews. If you like or dislike any of my characters, let me know. If you have questions, ask! I've already heard a little bit from a guy who now fully ships Kirito with Michiko, and even coined the ship term "Kiriko" and wants fully fledged sex scenes between the two. That's crazy, and it's fun to read little things like that. And as a writer, I LOVE talking about my writing and hearing what other people think, so don't be shy, I won't bite!

Chapter 39 will be up... soon I hope! More than likely not until Saturday night or Sunday (I'm EST).

**Book 2:** Okay so, after some consideration, I decided I'll need something to write while I'm doing the editing, nothing major like starting Book 2 too early, but I will likely be writing up a 10-30K word interlude chapter or two. If I do, they'll be a little wacky, and I may even insert myself into the writing and be all meta and shit, pretending to watch the story or pull random characters out for a chat and pretend to talk to some of my readers :P. The main story in such an interlude would be Kirito and friends clearing the 100th floor of Aincrad once things are back to normal.

**That's all for now, folks. Have a good one!**

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><p><strong>21/2015 - No Spoilers**

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><p>Hey guys, it's me again. Just doing some catch up stuff on a couple things I forgot to mention in my last update (because there was a lot to go over). So, I'll start by saying that by the end of the day yesterday (January 31st), I checked my stats and I had reached 6,000 views just for the month of January. In the month of December (since Dec. 14th when I started this), I had only about 1,000 views, which means in January, my average viewership per 15-day period tripled! I am currently standing at 36 Favorites and 36 Follows, but not all people clicked to both favorite and follow the story, so in reality, there's about 40-45 people who have clicked one of those two buttons at least (I didn't do a real count, this is only an estimate). As I look at views and visitors per chapter though, I see bigger numbers. I figure I have somewhere between 60 and 75 people who regularly read up on my story, and that's pretty cool considering my expectations (1, a close friend from another site who motivated me to write it out). As of the most recent chapter (and including 4,000 words of notesupdates), the story sits at 280,000 words. I take great pride in the sheer volume of content that I've been able to pump out in... what is it, 48 days (Dec 14th - January 31st)? I've gotten a lot of reviews that try to pose theories as to why I haven't gotten as much attention as other SAO stories, but here's my theory: This story, despite how long it is, is relatively new. I'm not concerned with how many positive stats or how many followers I have. As always, I'm happy to have them, but I never set out writing this to be popular, I just wanted to see if people liked what I wrote, and the answer to that is: yes.

I've had to deal with some fair criticisms as well, and it's important, I think, not to shrug the negative comments off. I went to school for writing, I graduated with a degree in Creative Writing, and I want to write for a living some day (and that day may actually be coming sooner rather than later... a writing career takes time to develop...). One thing that is important for anyone who seeks a career in writing is that they're not writing for their own personal entertainment anymore, they are writing for an audience. And that's what I'm doing here, I'm writing for an audience, that's you guys. I understand that some people have the perspective that this is my story, and I should write it how I want it. I want those people to understand that I am not that type of writer. The first... major step in good writing is having a good eye and ear for what the audience enjoys reading. That means accepting criticism with open arms, and seeing it as an opportunity to improve, not as negativity meant to shame. When people write negative reviews, I read what they have to say. I consider the validity of their claims, and so far, the negative reviews make valid points. And these are things that, as a writer who is writing for an audience, I need to address.

So now... Q&A... I've gotten quite a bit of public and private feedback, and I've gotten quite a bit of questions from serious, big questions to just little quick questions. I'll start with this one:

"Who would win: Yuuki or Eulsam?"

Well it's hard to say really. Most of the times when I have a battle between two characters, there's a lot more going into play than their individual skills. Their levels and abilities often make the difference in a fight as much as their personal skill and motivation to win a battle. The thing to note about the Swordmaster class is that it's a very PVP oriented class. The ability to pull out any weapon and start countering an opponent with ease is what the Swordmaster is made for. Their downfall is that at lower levels, they don't get any major abilities (like the swordsman's Blade Dancer's Fury or the Quickdraw of the Samurai class), and even when they start getting them at level 150, there are limits (albeit I haven't figured out what they are yet) as to what abilities can be obtained based on level. From level 1-70, Swordmasters are practically unbeatable in at-level, one-on-one PVP combat. From levels 71-120, when players start getting major abilities, they're pretty even, and then level 121 and onward, they start to slowly get better again.

With Yuuki's death in the show, I wrote her out of the book (and this sparked a little bit of controversy already...). Had she appeared in Vearth however, she would have been some class designed to use a one-handed sword (maybe something like Fencer or Sword Dancer). Her class would have been extremely heavily focused on speed over strength, and some abilities I can imagine she might have may include some lightning fast strikes, and bonuses to parrying and counter-attacks. She would also gain the Mother's Rosario ability at around 65-70, and probably a defensive mass parry-counter ability at around level 90. Her class would be focused on countering mostly other swords, not necessarily bigger, heavier weapons. It would likely be her case that her class would be an anti-Swordsman class. It would also have a focus on taking on multiple sword-wielding enemies at once. Light armor (lighter than even the Swordsman) would allow for greater dodging capabilities, and the ultimate intention of the class would be to dodge, parry, deflect and counter as many attacks as possible.

It all comes down to what level they fight at. The most likely scenario would have been in the tournament. Eulsam would have been between level 125 and 139, and she would have been 130-145 (if she stayed in, she would have been the one who always managed to outlevel everybody all the time). Eulsam's Tri-Blade (the weapon he copied from Michiko) would have been useless against Yuuki because that is a weapon focused on parrying, blocking and counter-attacking. His dual blades would be somewhat impractical as well, since more swords is just more things for Yuuki to counter-attack on, and his speed wouldn't be high enough to get around her defenses anyways. Pulling up a shield might be helpful, and one of his big defensive stances against her would be a shield and hammer, or a shield and axe fighting style (Paladin and Viking). His biggest offensive measure would be a two-handed sword, hammer or axe (seen in various class styles), something big and bulky that would require more strength to block, parry and deflect. Even still, those weapons require him to have some decent strength, and would slow him down a little bit. With reduced speed, Yuuki would destroy him.

I think what it would come down to between the two of them is who would make a mistake first. Eulsam, having many weapon styles, would have more chances to make such a mistake. It would be close, but I think Yuuki might win, with those 4-6 extra levels making the difference between victory and defeat, the same as it was with Kirito vs. Eulsam except with Eulsam at a lower level.

On a side note, I was wondering if perhaps Tex would be an angel? Or maybe Heathcliff (Who could possibly be the coolest character ever!)? Or other past dead players who would be absolutely amazing angles? Or maybe even Gaea herself as some Super Mega Awesome Angel?

Angels of Aincrad specifically? Well, as I you probably already read, Heathcliff was an Angel of Aincrad, and in fact, he was the commander general (highest ranking guild leader in Vearth guilds. Each guild can change the titles if they wish, however). You also saw Sachi and Diabel appear as AoA. Tex wouldn't be an Angel of Aincrad because she died in Vearth. She's also not a Valkyrie so she's not one of the Valkyries of Vearth (there were only ever about 50 Valkyries in the game, and it's the rarest class). If Tex were to come back as a sort of ghost, she would likely be a non-combatant. Gaea? Okay, now you're getting ridiculous. Gaea is an NPC, and no, she's not coming back as anything other than an NPC. She was also a god, so... no, she's not getting demoted.

More about the Angels of Aincrad... okay, so... here's the background of the AoA that you all haven't seen. First off, in my FF, Heathcliff always had the Angels of Aincrad. The Angels of Aincrad would appear as enemies and NPC's on the 100th floor of Aincrad, leading up to the final boss (himself), and in fact, they still are. In the interlude story, Kirito and friends will clear the 100th floor of Aincrad, and you'll get to see this played out. Their original intention would be to act as a sentimental and somewhat hopeful set of characters for the players who made it to floor 100. Player killers would find themselves literally facing the ghosts of their past, and here, they would pay for their sins in full. While those who made friends with characters and saw them die, would again see their friends, and since they chose the path of righteousness, they would gain allies instead of enemies.

When Vearth began, and the other virtual worlds were locked out, Heathcliff started plotting the end of Vearth. Despite his past, he wasn't down for another Death Game, and certainly not one operated by player killers. He began to use his administrative powers to start quietly inserting little pieces of code into the massive game that would go undetected by Laughing Coffin admins. This is where he turned Salamandraus into a beatable boss, and used the Temple of Fire as an in-game way of introducing him. When Kirito died, he turned the seed itself into the game as Gaea, and had her use her powers to develop the game from within, as it progressed, to create Tartarus, and the Fruit of Life that would be used to resurrect Kirito. Laughing Coffin created a place called "The Cage" in the programming, and funneled all of the harvested consciousnesses into it. At first, it was just the souls of the fallen in Vearth, but then, after Gaea, LC found Heathcliff in the coding. Heathcliff, and all of the fallen players from both Aincrad and Vearth were trapped inside. Gaea, then, being a sentient AI, continued to develop the game and created a series of events that would cause the Cage to manifest itself as "The Darkness We Have Created." This then allowed players to destroy the cage, and free Heathcliff, the Angels of Aincrad, and the fallen players of Vearth.

Heathcliff then started taking the Vearth dead, and it was then that he created this virtual heaven space, to house what remained of all players. Then, things got worse. GothGod took control of the game, quite unexpectedly, and this made the problem much worse. The Fruit of Knowledge was created with the intention that it would be given to Kirito or one of the other trusted heroes, and it would help them end the game (and also make them a brilliant force for good in the real world). Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Fortunately, the coding of the Fruit of Knowledge wasn't complete yet, which is why GothGod knows a lot, but doesn't quite know everything (particularly the things that he would need to know in order to figure out about Heathcliff's involvement ahead of time).

Now... the Angels of Aincrad originally encompassed all fallen players of Aincrad, but... as one might expect, many of the players wouldn't be so keen on jumping to the side of the man they blamed for their death. After Sword Art Online ended, he disbanded the Angels of Aincrad, and let them "live" in peace. When Vearth began, things changed. Diabel approached Heathcliff after the events in the Nightmare Forest (The Cage), and wanted to help. Heathcliff reformed the Angels of Aincrad, and put Diabel in as vice commander. If anyone else wanted to join, he would allow them. Of the nearly 4,000 players who died in SAO, about 3,000 of them joined in, including Sachi. Sachi however requested to visit the front lines, so that she could meet up with Kirito again. Many of the AoA simply weren't needed.

After that, Lily approached Heathcliff, and offered her assistance. She also wanted to see her sister, Michiko again, and so Heathcliff agreed. Lily formed the Valkyries of Vearth, and only enlisted the fallen players who were, or who would have become Valkyries in the game. The Angels of Aincrad and the Valkyries of Vearth were elevated by Heathcliff to max level. That's why their levels don't appear, mostly because I don't know what the max level will be yet. Even at max level, the Halls of the Fire God was one seriously challenging dungeon. Salamandraus was a sentient AI as well, and he developed the rest of the dungeon.

Now... will Tex come up again at all? Yes! Sinon and Sampson are going to visit her family after the game ends, and this event will be detailed in the Epilogue. Will Gaea come up again at all? Probably, but probably not in any direct way. After the game ends, three new virtual MMO's will be released, each controlled jointly by Kirito, Kayaba, and Lily. These worlds will be: Vearth, Shattered Vearth, and Vearth Reborn (the Vearth in its state at the end of this death game).

From PM's: "Just out of curiosity, back when Tex was alive she had a high "wrangling skill" is what I think you called it? Anyway, does that skill apply to more than just horses? Like how Silica had Pina (tiny dragon thing) in the original series except, well bigger, ridable, and probably not something as OP as dragons. It's just something I have been wondering about since you mentioned the skill earlier."

I already answered this one through the PM's quite some time ago, but I thought I'd bring it up here for everyone else to see. This was my original answer:

"As far as the skills go, I hadn't really put a whole lot of thought into the details of how much of the stuff works. It's all just background information and perhaps I'll detail it a whole lot more when I finish Act I and start working on the appendices. I just knew that if I was going to introduce a new activity, there had to be a skill level associated with it.

In fact, Tex's entire character spawned from the need for there to be mounts in the new, expansive world. It was a simple thought process really: they need mounts, they need to get horses, horse taming needs to be a skill, a person from what background might have a bonus to said skill?

If it comes up in the future, it would be used almost exclusively to herd livestock of any variety, and/or obtain mounts. For companion and combatant pets like Pina, I'd probably call it a different skill, "Beast-Taming" or something of that nature."

As the story has evolved, I did show a little bit more of Silica and her class (Beast Tamer), but she remains a secondary character in the story. When I return and edit the book, I may give her some more details and expand on her character some more. Her beast taming skill, as of now, stands in place of a primary weapon skill (like spell casters have a magical skill instead of a weapon skill). At this point, it's mastered or near mastered. The ability that turns her into a Dire Animal is one of the high level abilities of her class, and it can be obtained by a couple other classes as well, including Druid, which I never got a chance to insert into the story.

Another PM question asked about some of my MMO references.

Well, I do have a lot of little references here and there. I try not to reference songs that much because according to rules, they don't like it when you insert lyrics into the story (and it's not even a "without giving credit" type of thing), and I follow the rules. So... when I do reference songs, I usually call them out directly by title. As far as MMO references, I'm pretty much always referencing Dungeons and Dragons (in case you couldn't tell at this point xD) or World of Warcraft, both of which are not only background references, but actually play a role in the histories of some of the characters (like Rexem's whole party). You are aware that Argus is the software developer behind Nerve Gear and SAO, but Argus is also the former homeworld of the Dreinei in WoW lore, and becomes the capital of the Burning Legion. Argus is the inevitable final battlefield in WoW (or at least... that's what many players including myself feel), and so Rexem's guild being called "Raiders of Argus" is a direct call back to their time playing WoW.

As for other references... to be perfectly honest, I couldn't remember them all if I tried. I can tell you some inspirations that went into a lot of the story and its characters...

Michiko/Mokatso has the most influences of anything, so I'll start with her. Characters that influenced Michiko/Mokatso: Batman, Rorschach (Watchmen), Maiev Shadowsong (WoW, title, Black Warden, is a direct reference, weapon is similar), I think I had someone else in mind but I can't remember. Music that influenced Michiko/Mokatso: "Facade" -Disturbed (the scene where she kills Katsuo), "Demons" -Imagine Dragons (just in-general). Her weapon is modeled after the "glaive" weapon seen in Warcraft, often used by night elves.

Xaela's hairstyle was initially inspired by that one character in Mockingjay whose name I can't remember.

Eulsam's relationship with his father is basically the same as the story of one of my friends in one of my non-fiction workshop classes. I mean, it's nowhere near identical, but that's where I got the basis of it. The song "Come With Me Now," by the Kongos, comes up. It's not really a 'theme song' as I see it, but it was what I was listening to while writing Kirito v Eulsam.

Sampson I think I directly stated is named after Sampson in the Old Testament.

The Valkyrie Fighting style was modeled after playing the new Gauntlet Game, where the Valkyrie uses a shield and sword, but occasionally pulls out a spear for extra kick-assery. The Valkyrie also gains a set of glowing wings when at 20% HP or less.

Doc is actually not named to call into mind "Witch Doctor" even though he is a voodoo master. In his background, Doc played Gun Gale Online, and "Doc" is a reference to "Doc Holiday" a historical figure from the wild west.

Dragons obviously have a million influences (virgin sacrifice, invincible scales, etc). The title of the chapter of the dragons nest arc, "Dungeons and Dragons" is a direct reference to D&D, the table-top rpg system.

"Through the Fire and Flames" by Dragonforce was the theme in my head for Temple of Fire, Tartarus, and Halls of the Fire God.

Yuichi's unofficial theme song is "Centuries" by Fall Out Boy.

GothGod's unofficial theme song is "Down With the Sickness" by Disturbed.

"Start Again" by Red and "Unforgiven II" by Metallica were both my head-themes for the scene where the AU Asuna finishes the battle against AU Kirito.

"One of Us is Going Down" by Sick Puppies was my head-theme for the first fight between AU Asuna and AU Kirito.

"Dance Dance" by Fall Out Boy was my head-theme for Kirito v Asuna in the tournament duel.

"Sugar, We're Going Down" by Fall Out Boy was my head-theme for Xaela around the same time as the tournament, with her confusion about love and jealousy of Kirito.

"Battlecry" by Imagine Dragons was my head-theme for Kirito addressing the Champions of Vearth before Halls of the Fire God

The following Streetlight Manifesto songs inspired a lot of scenes: "The Littlest Things" = Tex's death. "With Any Sort of Certainty" = Act II Finale. "If Only For Memories" = Asuna logging back into the game. "Oh Me, Oh My" is inspiring the end scene in Liberation Day (upcoming), and "Your Day Will Come" will basically be my head-theme for the end of book 1, and also directly inspired the upcoming epilogue chapter title: "A New Day Will Come: Your Day."

"Hold On" by Korn is going to be the inspiration for an upcoming scene. And... I just started listening to a bunch of Dragonforce's most recent stuff, so those will probably inspire some more scenes in the future.

That's all I can think of for now, and that's all the questions I can see! Thanks for reading, have a good one!


	41. Chapter 40: War & Peace

As the players all looked out towards the clearing sky to the north, towards Newberg, they started to form together the plans for the future. The hundred-and-twenty-or-so mortal players that entered Tartarus and died had been resurrected by the Angels of Aincrad. "So," Kirito said. "This is how we're moving forward. GothGod no longer has an army of hostages shielding him from an attack. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Our goal now is to kill the sixty-four thousand players in Newberg, so that the Angels of Aincrad can resurrect them, releasing them from the mind control."

"I never thought we'd actually want to kill players," Michiko said. "But that… does seem like the next logical step. There's still a lot of them."

"The Red Hand will help us," Eulsam said. The others gave him a strange look. "Hear me out… the Red Hand no longer have any power in a world where death is no longer a threat. There are thousands of them, and they're going to be confused about what's happening. If our goal is simply to kill players—"

Heathcliff interrupted him after reading an incoming message from one of his Angels. "Hold that thought," he said. "It appears that Taravel, the commander general of the Red Hand has issued an order for all guild members to assemble at the southern edge of Newberg. It seems his intention is to stop us there."

"Taravel is definitely under the effects of the mind control," Klover said. "Unfortunately for him, we have enough control over the Red Hand."

"Maybe not." Eulsam turned from the ledge of the now dormant volcano, and started to head for a path that led down. "We have the Red Hand who were on Paradise Island under control, but those who have now been resurrected won't know what's going on. They will still follow Taravel's orders, in all likelihood."

"I will find Smuldur, and take my dragons with me," Lisbeth said, unfurling her wings. "He will join in our assault on Newberg, in fact, I'm sure he'll be elated that he can unleash everything he has on the city. We will attack from the north, and start working on freeing the tens of thousands." Sampson went with her, mounting a dragon, and the two of them flew off.

"Heathcliff," Kirito said. "If we needed them too, would the Angels of Aincrad, and the Valkyries of Vearth be able to stop resurrecting Red Hand players, and put them all back down for the time being?"

"I wouldn't expect you to say something like that," Heathcliff said.

Kirito nodded. "They're a threat, and killing them is no longer a permanent punishment. I'm only saying to keep them out of our way."

Michiko nodded in agreement. "The Red Hand will want to stop the game from ending. They won't want to return to the real world and face justice. They would sooner work against us…"

"What if we could offer them a deal?" Asuna asked. "We could offer them some kind of leniency in exchange for their assistance."

Kirito went to head down the ramp after Eulsam. "We need them out of the way while we hunt down GothGod… And I'm not going to make any such offers to them."

Asuna caught up to him after pulling her sword from the statue of Salamandraus. "Kirito," she said. "I hope you're not using this to settle a personal score with them. They had you in captivity, too."

"Kirito!" Heathcliff shouted after him. "You are the commander of the Champions of Vearth, but the Angels of Aincrad are my guild, and the Valkyries of Vearth are under Lily's command. I will not order them to undo what they have accomplished. Their standing orders are as non-combatants, to simply resurrect any player who falls fifteen seconds after their death. Lily will join you in the fighting, but my role in this battle has come to an end. The Angels will keep players alive, no matter what, with only one exception: GothGod."

"Fine, fine," Kirito said. "We'll figure out how to get past the Red Hand." With that, Heathcliff flew up into the sky, and was gone from that moment forward, returning to his background role in the game.

"Kirito," Klover said as he approached, and started walking down the ramp. By now, most of the players were already on their way to the shore. "With your permission, I could take those in my former guild, and we could face the Red Hand at their defensive point. The rest of the Champions of Vearth could attack from the east. Without the possibility of death, the Arctic Army would hold the Red Hand at bay indefinitely."

Kirito nodded. "Get to it, then. Eulsam!" Eulsam stopped and waited for him to catch up. "We're going to take a majority of the Champions of Vearth, and attack Newberg from the east." Eulsam went ahead, and started relaying the order.

Asuna walked next to Kirito. She sighed, and looked at him. "Kirito… when do we get to stop fighting?"

"When it's done…"

* * *

><p>GothGod woke up that morning, in bed with his close friend, and popped open his player menu to see an unexpected error pop up for him. He read it, and he felt his heart sink. He shook his friend awake, and she blinked at him. "We need to go… now." He rushed out of the room towards the throne room. "Everyone!" he shouted. "My Death Oath! We have to leave. Prepare your things, take not a single mind slave with you!"<p>

"What's wrong?" one of them asked.

"Something has happened… something very bad for us," he said. "I have lost administration privileges, but don't worry, I can think of a way to get them back." When he left the keep, he looked out to see the sky clearing, and the sun shining. He went back inside and closed the door. "No… we can't leave."

"Cory," the girl asked him, "What's wrong?"

"The sky… is opening. The sun is shining. We can't fly… we can't teleport to where we need to go. We don't dare travel by day time when we can be so easily spotted." He thought about it for a moment. "We leave at nightfall. Enjoy your last day here well!"

* * *

><p>While on the ships heading back to the mainland, Xaela approached Michiko. She sat next to her, and leaned into her. "Tell me how you love me," she said softly. Michiko didn't respond, and shuddered at her thoughts, thinking back on the last few days. "Are you okay?"<p>

"I'm fine," Michiko said. "I love you…" The words felt a little less empty this time, but more uncertain than ever.

Xaela sighed, and pulled away from her. "You still don't say it like you mean it."

Michiko thought for a moment, and then turned to look at her. "I know," she said. "The whole game, I have built my entire personality… my whole mission around deception and secrecy. I don't know how to speak honestly about my feelings anymore."

"And that's not all," Xaela said. "Before we got here… if we were in a private setting when you held me against that tree. Would you have done it?"

Michiko hanged her head low. "I don't want to think about that."

"When you say that you love me, that's all I can think about…"

"I might have, I might not have, I don't know," Michiko told her. "I would have hated myself though, and… I already do. I'm a better soldier and a better killer than I am a lover. I don't know how I could have fooled myself into thinking I was even capable of something so strong."

"I thought the game made you strong…"

"I was wrong," Michiko said. "The game made me numb. I'm not braving through the pain, I'm just shutting down for it. I realized that when we were fighting Embyrs, and I watched you die. I thought that was going to be it, that I'd never see you again. And I felt everything stop."

"I've gotten two more nightmares in the past week," Xaela said. "Don't you get them?"

"Yes," Michiko said. "Now I do. They're the same as yours, ever since you told me about them…"

"I'm not going to hurt you, you know," Xaela said. "Not unless you ask me to in a strictly… playful sense."

"In my nightmares," Michiko said. "I hurt you… but that's not what's scary. What's scary is that when I hurt you, I don't feel anything. And I think I already have before, just without realizing it. I'm a terrible person."

"We've both done things we regret," Xaela said.

There was a few moments of silence, and then Michiko leaned against Xaela, starting to cry. "Yes," she said. "I would have done it. I was going to do it and I didn't care about who saw until someone called me out. I betrayed you… I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Xaela said to her, leaning back into her. She smiled. "I love you… You couldn't do anything to change that."

* * *

><p>Asuna looked at her sword as they got closer to shore, or more accurately, she looked through its stats. Kirito watched her, and read along with her. "Was that a drop from Salamandraus?" he asked.<p>

She shook her head. "No," she said. "It's the same sword I went in with. It got an upgrade after beating him though…" The sword's name had now read: The Divine Flame; and it also changed to a legendary weapon. She held it up to Kirito. "I'll trade you."

Kirito looked at her funny. "I don't have any legendary weapons to trade for it, Asuna."

"For one of your Elucidators," she said. "Then we'll always fight with each other's swords, and we'll always be with each other."

Kirito blinked at her. "You mean… something symbolizing our love that we would keep with us wherever we go, perhaps something that would serve as a token of our bond and our coming together?" He chuckled a little bit, and pointed to her engagement ring, which she still wore, even in combat.

Asuna pushed at him with her head, and shook it. "One more can't hurt," she said. "Plus, I thought of something…"

"What?"

"Your ability… Blade Dancer's Fury… it breaks the weapon you attack with, and so you have to have lots of back-up weapons, cheaper ones to replace them all the time."

"Yeah…"

"But… legendary weapons cannot be broken, no matter what," Asuna said. "If you had this sword, you could use it during your Blade Dancer's Fury and deal more damage than was ever possible."

Kirito thought about that for a moment, and opened his trade window. "If you really want to," he said. "It's your sword, and your legendary item. We don't come across those every day."

Asuna nodded to him, trading the two weapons for one another. "I already have my shield." She gripped Kirito's Elucidator, and then put it back into her inventory. She looked down at her engagement ring. It was shaped like a sword, with the diamond on one side of the end of the blade. "This is a really cool ring."

Kirito leaned against her, and kissed her on the head.

* * *

><p>It took some time before the ships returned to the mainland. The Champions of Vearth who had fled Paradise Island before the dungeon landed here, and had set up a small port town, and when the greatest among them arrived, they were greeted with an army, welcoming their return. Kirito assembled everyone in the guild to the town's center to update them all on what was happening, and from there, they all started to march north, to prepare an attack from the east of Newberg.<p>

Klover's forces met up a little westward of the port town. After gathering his players up, he stood on a tree stump, and shouted out to his group of about three hundred players. "Salamandraus has fallen!" he said. "And as a direct result, our enemy, GothGod, has lost control of the game. But that isn't the best news today. The greatest news I have for you is this: that Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online, also known as Heathcliff, has officially taken death out of the mechanics of this game. If you die, you will be brought back to fight in fifteen seconds!" The players were stunned at that, and looked on in amazement. "It is true! I fell in the battle of the Halls of the Fire God, everyone did! But we were brought back, and now… this game is coming to an end!"

"So we're going to kill GothGod?" a player asked him.

Klover shook his head. "No," he told them. "We have a different target! Kirito is taking the rest of the Champions of Vearth northeast of here, to prepare a final assault on Newberg, but, the Red Hand is back in the game. The resurrection clause includes them as well, unfortunately. They intend to stop us, to stop the end and keep this game going on forever! So our goal, is to stop them! They have gathered, thinking that we would charge into Newberg from the south. We were already aware of this situation though, and so, we, those of us formerly the Arctic Army, will meet them out the southern gates of the Kingdom of Newberg, and hold them down while Kirito can invade the city and slay GothGod!" With that, he stepped down, and mounted a horse. He raised his axe high as he started to ride around the players, and they started to mount up. "Now, my friends! Fight with the valor of true Vikings, for we have no longer the fear of death holding us back! We will slay the Red Hand, and slay them again until they lose all will to fight! This is our Valhalla, champions! Ride for the Red Hand!" Klover led his group north from there, towards the Red Hand encampment.

* * *

><p>Kirito and his larger portion of the Champions of Vearth arrived, another two weeks later, at Eastown. The town was in ruins, left that way from way back during Smuldur's attack. They started to rebuild it, turning it into a small fortification from which they would lead the attack on Newberg. While they were building, Lisbeth flew into the town, and dropped in the town's square.<p>

Kirito and his inner circle were enjoying a dinner prepared by the master chef, Asuna. Lisbeth entered in after asking a few questions about where to go, and took a seat at the table. "Kirito!" she said as she sat. They all stopped talking, and paid attention to the Dragon Queen. "Smuldur is on board, but there's a problem…"

"What's that?" Kirito asked her.

"Smuldur has been having his part of the brood scout around, and they have seen heavy movement all around the Northern Mountains. Undead dragons and soldiers are assembling. I followed them out and passed them up as they started marching. They're headed for Newberg. There are many of them, and they intend to meet you before you can ever reach the city, and overwhelm you in sheer numbers."

"Why?" Klein asked. "GothGod's lost, hasn't he? It's not a matter of buying time, we'll beat him and his armies eventually. We can't die anymore, remember?"

Eulsam listened, and thought about. "What if that's not true?" he asked.

"What if what's not true?" Asuna asked.

Eulsam leaned forward, and nodded to himself. "We shouldn't underestimate our enemy. He may be powerless within the game, but don't forget, he ate from the Fruit of Knowledge, and now has all of the knowledge of the world… not just this one, but of the real one as well. Or at least he has quite a bit of knowledge."

"If GothGod had a chance," Michiko said. "Wouldn't Heathcliff have already known about it?"

"Unless," Kirito said. "You're saying it's possible that GothGod knows something that Kayaba does not."

"If the possibility exists," Eulsam said. "Then we should consider it seriously, and plan as if it were his plan."

"Lisbeth," Asuna said, looking over to her. "How long do you think it will be until these undead armies arrive?"

"About three or four days," she said. "In that time, I could go back to Smuldur, and the entire flight could return. We would make quick work of them."

"Get to it," Kirito said. Lisbeth nodded, and left the room, taking off again and returning north. Kirito then stood up. "Alright. Looks like we need to move our plans forward now. Eulsam, gather the troops, tell them we're marching for Newberg in two hours."

* * *

><p>The army of about seven hundred was waiting just outside of the rebuilt Eastown. Kirito, Eulsam and Asuna were at the very front. Kirito addressed the crowd. "Alright!" he shouted out. "There are less than seven-hundred of us, and sixty-four-thousand players trapped under the effects of the mind control. The fight will be easy, but it will be long. This is not some campaign we will win in one battle. We will go in, and fight, and kill as many players as we can so that they can be resurrected, and then we will retreat once we have done all we can for one day. It will seem weird, killing other players after almost four years of this game, where it would make you a murderer, but this is the fastest way to clear the city, and make it to GothGod. In a few days, we won't be alone, we'll be joined by an army of dragons! It'll make our jobs a lot easier. Remember one last thing: you can't die, but you can still feel pain! These players will be armed, and they will be able to hurt you, even overwhelm you with numbers. If you get stuck behind enemy lines, then you'll probably remain trapped for some time, so try to stay together." Kirito then turned and charged forward. Everyone followed him towards the city.<p>

When they arrived at Newberg, there was another barrier to their objective. They were all stopped at a massive wall of iron that had been built up around the city. "Well," Eulsam said as he looked at the wall. "GothGod is not making this very easy."

Zeeka, the Primal Shaman came forward on her horse. She dismounted, and stepped up to the plate. "Watch this," she said. She dropped to her knees, and placed her palms on the ground. She started casting a spell, and when it was finished, the ground shook. The players' horses all startled, and they were trying to keep them under control. The ground split open, and a fissure cracked towards the wall blocking the path. There was more shaking, and it got more violent. The ground began to falter beneath the wall, but the construction of the wall was no conservative project. When the spell was finished, she looked up at it, and scratched her head. Buildings were started to collapse behind the wall, but the wall itself remained strong. "Okay… this might take a while."

"Flame Sorcerers!" Eulsam shouted. A group of players dismounted and stepped forward. "Water Sorcerers!" Another group came up. Eulsam looked at them all and nodded. "I think you should already see where I'm going with this," he said. "Get up close and blast it with everything you've got."

The players all nodded and ran up. They started throwing blasts of fire and water in quick succession against the wall, but as soon as they began, a rain of arrows fell down on them, and they fled. Many of them died. Of course, they were soon after resurrected by pillars of light.

"Any more ideas?" Kirito asked Eulsam. After he asked that, a barrage came. Stones and pieces of rubble were hurled out over them, and Kirito charged back and the group charged with him, in full retreat until they were outside of the range of the artillery. The players all looked back at the walled city, and Kirito sighed. "We're going to be doing this for a long time…"

* * *

><p>The army stood by in Eastown, and enjoyed some rest for two days while the leadership tried to draw up plans for how they were going to breech the walls. Kirito and the others sat around a table, all looking drained and tired. "There's no doors," Kirito said. "Why would there be a wall without any doors?"<p>

"This is his last stand and he knows it," Eulsam said. "He built a big metal wall with no doors so he could hide away forever."

"We could fly in," Asuna said. "But then… how long would we last, when only so few of us have flying mounts? And what would we do then? The players being resurrected inside the walls wouldn't do any good."

"The undead armies should be arriving in a day or two," Klein said. "And we haven't heard back from Lisbeth. The delaying tactics are working."

"What about a tunnel?" Kirito asked. "We could get our earth mages to dig a tunnel up underneath the wall. Or maybe we get like… grappling hooks, and climb it."

"That wall was at least fifty feet high," Eulsam said. "They probably have armed guards lining the top, waiting to cut us down if we try that. I'm telling you, we're going to have to build siege weapons for this. Towers…"

Asuna rolled her eyes. "We're not taking the time to do that. Every day we waste is a day GothGod has to come up with a plan… assuming he hasn't already. Besides, the dragons will be here before we finish them." Asuna got up, and went to leave. "I've had enough of this… we're going to have to just wait it out for Lisbeth and Smuldur to arrive." With that she left the room.

"I think I have to agree with her on that," Michiko said. She got up to leave as well. Klein followed soon after her, and then the group disbanded from their meeting.

Michiko caught up to Asuna after the meeting, and ran ahead to talk to her. "Asuna," she said.

Asuna stopped, and turned to listen. "Yeah?"

Michiko took a breath before saying anything else. "Sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Asuna blinked at her.

"For being flirty with your boyfriend… well, with your fiancé. It wasn't really a very polite thing to do."

Asuna shook her head. "I shouldn't be so threatened by that," she said, feeling a little full of pride. She shook it off, and shrugged. "If you want to keep trying, go ahead. We're getting married. We're going to have a family. You don't stand a chance to get in the way of that."

Michiko shook her head back though. "No," she said. "It's really not the right thing to do. I wouldn't want to be the force trying to split you up. I would rather be friends. So, please… will you accept my apology for this?"

After letting out a sigh, Asuna nodded. She held out a hand to Michiko. "Fine," she said. "Apology accepted." Michiko shook her hand and smiled with relief. "Don't expect to be all buddied up with me though, you still slept with my boyfriend and I still hear about you every now and then from him… talking about you and how… well, adventurous I guess—how adventurous you were."

Michiko giggled at that, and pulled her hand back after shaking with Asuna. "I'm sure I could show you a few things," she said. "Show you what I learned from being with him… the kinds of things he likes. Then you'd be even with him."

The Valkyrie blushed, and shook her head dismissively. "No," she said. "I already know what he _likes_, thank you very much! And I'm not trying to get even with him."

"Oh, you know what he likes?" Michiko asked. "Tell me about it, then." She had a coy smile on her face.

"He likes…" Asuna drew a blank. "It's none of your business what happens between us." She turned away, her embarrassment growing. "I'm good enough for him, and that's all he cares about. We love each other. How… good I am isn't important."

Michiko circled around to face her again. "Oh," she said. "Yeah, love is the important part, and that makes you good enough. But can you honestly say you're satisfied with good enough when it comes to pleasing the man you love?"

Asuna sighed, her pride tumbling and feeling defeated. Now she was growing jealous again. "Okay," she said. "Tell me… what does he like, other than the obvious?"

Michiko leaned into her and whispered into her ear. "I'm not telling," she said. Asuna pulled back and glared at her, starting to grow angry. Michiko began to walk past her. "I'll show you though, if you want. And don't tell me you've never wanted to try something like that out. I have it on good authority that you might be… curious."

Asuna growled at her, and turned around as she started to walk away. "What good authority is that?" she asked. "What did he tell you?"

"Think about it," Michiko said as she waved at her, and kept on walking away.

Kirito approached Asuna as she was watching Michiko walk away. "Don't listen to her too much," Kirito said. Before he could finish his thought, Asuna pulled him into a deep, passionate kiss, which he wasn't exactly opposed to, though it was quite a surprise. Afterwards, he looked at her, and blinked. "Where did that come from?"

"That was good, right?" Asuna asked.

Kirito laughed a little at her, knowing what the exchange must have been. He nodded. "It was good…" he said. "You know you're a lot more… aggressive when you're acting jealous. Maybe I should get her to do that more often…"

Asuna's face turned beet red as she hissed at him. "Oh, you like my assertive side?" she asked, slowly calming down. He grabbed him by the arm, and started pulling off and away from there. "Come on then, you get to entertain me for a bit." He followed along with her, chuckling a little more as he went on.

Eulsam watched the two from a distance. He was about to approach Asuna, but decided not to after seeing the exchange, and turned away to go find something else to do. As he turned around, he was face to face with Xaela. The woman leaned into him and kissed him once, quickly, before walking away. He stood there, confused as ever. "Why is it I'm always getting caught up in these things?" he asked himself.

Xaela went from there to Michiko, and walked alongside her. Michiko pretended not to notice, until Xaela finally opened her mouth, before a single word, Michiko turned and tackled her to the ground. Once she had her down, she gave her a quick peck on the lips, and held her at her shoulders. "Michiko," Xaela said, laughing a little. "What are you doing?"

"I feel…" Michiko started to say, but then leaned down and whispered into Xaela's ear. "Let's just say two straight days of trying to strategize with Eulsam and turning up empty has left me rather on edge, and I think we should do something… right here…"

Xaela looked around, cheeks flushing, and then looked back up at Michiko. "Here? With… in the middle of town?"

Michiko let her go, and rolled off onto her back. "Okay, maybe it's a little too public. That kind of thrill excites me, we should do that some time."

"I kissed Eulsam," Xaela said suddenly. Michiko turned to her, with a sort of pathetic look on her face. Xaela nodded. "Yeah, how does it feel?"

Michiko blinked at her, and leaned her head into the woman. "Bad…"

Xaela nodded. "Good, so now you have an idea of what it's like watching you get all flirty with Kirito… and even Asuna now. What was that all about?"

Michiko laughed a little, just under her breath, and bumped her head against Xaela's shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll invite you if it happens."

Xaela blinked, now growing more nervous than before. "If—if what happens?"

Michiko put her finger to Xaela's lips, and made a shushing sound. "It's a secret. I'll tell you if it turns into something real. In the meantime…" Michiko sat up from there. "You should try flirting. It's fun, you know. I'm not making out with other people or anything, just teasing. I wouldn't mind if you did that, it might be fun to watch."

Xaela shook her head, and got up to her feet. "No thanks," she said. "I've had enough doubts and scattered, hard emotions figuring out that I loved you. I don't want to play around with that anymore. And out of respect for me… I'd like it if you didn't do it either."

Michiko pouted at her, and got up to kiss her cheek. She took her hand and led her on. "I'll try to tone it down a little, I guess," she said. "But you told me I had one more go with Kirito."

"That was ages ago!" Xaela said as she followed along. "It's too late now!"

Michiko shook her head. "Nope, can't take it back. And it's taking a reasonably long time to work it in. Tell you what, you can come too."

"Is that what you're talking about?" Xaela asked. "Some… some ridiculous… deviant gathering with a married couple? You ought to be ashamed! It's not morally acceptable!"

Michiko laughed at her, and took her out of the town and into a more secluded area. The world was beautiful again now, with the sun shining. The ash still covered much of the ground, but sparse patches of green were sprouting up here and there. "Less than a year ago, hot lesbian tongue action was shameful, and yet…"

Xaela pushed at her playfully. "That's different!" she insisted.

"That's what you keep saying," Michiko said. "I'm just your worst friend, aren't I? Always corrupting you and turning you into a sexually free character."

After Michiko pulled Xaela back down to the ground, she gave her a kiss, and then leaned back again. "Michiko," Xaela said. "Tell me…"

Michiko pulled her close, and whispered into her ear. "I love you…" she said to her. For the first time in a long time, she felt the feeling in those words, and they carried weight again. There was a moment of complete silence for her, and she leaned in to kiss her lover once more, far more passionately now.

* * *

><p>Two more days passed, and as Kirito was enjoying the day, he looked up after seeing a huge shadow trailing along the ground in the distance. Smuldur was flying, with an army of dragons, right into Newberg. He turned, and raced into the town's center, calling everyone to attention. "Everyone!" he shouted. "The dragons have arrived, prepare for combat!"<p>

Eulsam was the first ready to go, and mounted up his horse. "No waiting!" he shouted. "Ride towards the city the moment you are ready!" He rode straight from the town towards Newberg, and opened up a message window on the way, sending a message out to Lisbeth. Soon he got one back. "Kirito!" he shouted back as Kirito caught up to him. "Lisbeth is in the city, along with Sampson and Silica."

"Great!" Kirito said. "Tell them to take down the gates so that we can join the fight!"

As the drove of players was riding as fast as they could towards the city, a series of dragons was swooping down on the wall along the road, and using fire and strength to rip it apart so that the players could charge in. As they did, they all poured in and started killing the players there as they saw them. They made for easy targets, all scattered and running around, not knowing what to do.

Kirito and the leadership stopped at a crossroads, and watched the chaos ensue around them. Kirito laughed at it all, and Asuna looked at him. "What's so funny?"

Kirito stopped, and looked back at her. "After all this time… I've degraded myself to a player killer. We're killing defenseless and helpless players. And we're the good guys. It's just… the game's almost over, I'm getting excited."

Asuna nodded, and smiled at him. "I can tell."

Eulsam looked around and nodded in agreement. "After swearing all the oaths to protect the people here, I'm breaking them all to set them free. It is certainly ironic."

"How far to the keep?" Michiko asked.

Eulsam started to charge forward, and the rest of them followed. The dragons were doing most of the work now, and the path to the city's center was practically cleared. They dismounted and barged into the castle gates. The throne room was empty. "Hiding, likely," Eulsam said. "We'll find them…"

But they did not. They met back up in the throne room after another two hours of searching the place, and turning up empty handed. They each had slain a handful of mind control victims that were the private slaves of the Death Oath, and as they came to, they gathered up in the throne room with Kirito and the others.

"Where could they have gone?" Asuna asked the group.

"This isn't good," Eulsam said. "If they were delaying their escape, they succeeded."

"Kirito!" a voice shouted.

Kirito turned to the doors to see Sachi running into the room. "Sachi?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Heathcliff thought of a way that GothGod could regain control of the game," she said. "It would be a stretch, but if he got access to a system console, then he could use it to interface with the game directly, and from there, restore his administration powers."

"What?" Michiko asked. "Where is he?"

Sachi shook her head. "He is clouding his movements, but there's only one place he could possibly be going. Heathcliff sent me here to tell you." She looked directly to Kirito. "The basement floors of Aincrad," she said. "You remember this… there is a system console down there. It fell into the Bonechill Mountains somewhere. GothGod could have easily found out where it was. You have to get to him before he reaches it."

Kirito nodded, and waved his hand through the air. "Let's go!" he shouted. "We're flying out now! Eulsam, get the message to Lisbeth, Silica and Eulsam. I want them with us. Zeeka too."

"Who will be in charge of the raid here?" Eulsam asked.

"I don't care, find someone," Kirito said. After leaving the building, he mounted his pegasus. Asuna climbed up with him, and they took off. The others followed soon after.

* * *

><p>GothGod approached the system console ahead of his guild. He brushed the dust off of the top of it, and smiled as he looked down at it. "Yes," he said. "This… this could work."<p>

"Could work?" one of his guild members asked.

GothGod shook his head, and accessed the consoled with a prod of his finger. "No," he said. "It will work. It has to work." He started to open up windows, and looked through some things. "It's going to take a long time though. With my knowledge, I can do it."


	42. Chapter 41: Justice

One full day had passed since GothGod found the system console. He hadn't accomplished his goals yet, and it was a long work-in-progress. Kirito, Asuna, Eulsam, Michiko, Xaela, Doc, Lisbeth, Silica, Sampson, Klein, Sinon, Leafa and Zeeka. These players made up the party that hunted the Death Oath on October 1st, 2031. When they arrived at the Bonechill Mountains, they landed on the ledges of the cliffs that were completely shrouded in fog.

As soon as they arrived, Zeeka started casting a spell that began to clear the fog up. Shamanism was a strange form of magic in this world. Of all magics, there were three major categories: Arcane Magic was a collection of pure magical essence, and magic coming from some divine source of power; Elemental Magic claims control over the elements from water to fire to light and darkness to life essence itself. Then, there was the "Other" Magic, which included everything else, and those magics, like Shamanism, drew power from the spirit world. Demonology, Witchcraft and Voodoo all fell into this category. Voodoo and Shamanism were like polar opposites, in a sense. Voodoo, which Doc has mastered, uses artifacts to channel spiritual power, while Shamanism, like Zeeka's magic, channels spirits directly through and into the body.

Zeeka's magical abilities and spells were a mix of spoken spells, and emotionally driven powers. Channeling the spirits the way she did allowed her to interact with the elements, making it also similar to elemental magic. She was also a player-boss class. The Primal was a class that harnessed primal elemental forces, the highest tier of elemental magic, otherwise inaccessible to players. This put her at a distinct advantage over even sorcerers who mastered a normal brand of elemental magic.

As the fog cleared, they found a path that led down into the chasm, and into a cave. "Do you think that's where we need to go?" Kirito asked.

Doc drew a circle on the ground, and prepared a spell. He pulled out another doll, and set it in the center of the circle. "The spirits here might know for sure…" He spoke some words, and the doll got up, and started walking around. Doc knelt down to it, and spoke to it. "We're looking for a player named GothGod, and the guild, Death Oath…" The doll turned, and walked down the path, and into the cave.

"That's extremely creepy," Asuna said as she watched it. The group followed the path down, and the doll led the way… into the depths of Fallen Aincrad.

As they explored the tunnels, they reached an area that began to look familiar to Kirito. "Asuna," he said. "This is it, isn't it?"

Asuna nodded to him. "It is… I remember it well. It was… not the best of memories."

"Mama…" the voice came from a dark corridor, and from it, Yuichi appeared. She looked much different though. She was older.

Asuna stared at the girl for a moment, and then leaned forward to hug her. "Yuichi," she said softly. The hug broke before long. Then, Yuichi appeared to flicker, like a video feed suddenly getting a bad signal. "Yuichi… what's wrong?" Before she got an answer, the girl flickered once more, and then vanished.

Doc moved forward, and reached down to where she stood. The doll was now lifeless, but it had a note attached to it. "Remember me?" Doc asked. "What's she talking about?"

Asuna shook her head. "I have no earthly idea," she said. "She said that to us before. It was the last thing she said before vanishing."

Kirito shook his head. "There's certainly something strange going on with that girl," he said. "I get the feeling we won't have the answers for a long time.

"Mama, Papa?" another familiar voice spoke to them. This time, when they turned around, Yui was standing there before them.

"Are we just seeing ghosts right now?" Klein asked.

"Yui," Kirito said. "What's going on here?"

Yui shrugged, and turned to walk down the halls. "I don't remember."

"Where are you going?" Asuna then asked. She shrugged, and kept on walking.

The group started to follow her, as she seemed to be leading them the way they needed to go. "We're going to where you disappeared," Kirito said. "Do you remember that?"

"Hai," Yui said as she kept on walking.

After a few more paces, they all started to cross a strange point in the labyrinth. Kirito was the first to cross, and he didn't even notice until Asuna pointed it out. "Kirito!" she said, surprised by something. He appeared much younger… the age that he was when he was in Aincrad the first time, during the events of Sword Art Online.

When he turned around, he saw Asuna just the same, even in her old Knights of the Blood Oath attire. "Asuna," he said. He looked down at himself, and blinked. As the rest of the players crossed over, they too each appeared much younger.

The players who weren't in Sword Art Online still appeared as they would have if they were there. "What… the hell?" Michiko asked, looking down at her small body. "I'm a god-damned chibi!" Zeeka was now so young, she was barely older than a toddler. She shrugged it off though and walked on, thankful she wasn't any younger.

Yui turned around to look at them. "We should keep going," she said as she went onward. As they kept moving, they looked ahead, and there was the room where the system console sat. Inside were Asuna and Kirito… from way back when.

"Yui," Asuna said. "What's happening? Why are we here… now?"

Yui pointed ahead into the room. "Do you remember what happens in there? No matter how hard I try, I can't remember anything. But I see this room, and what's happening inside, and I know it's important."

"That was right after you disappeared," Kirito said. "I used the system console to hack into the game, and turn your programming into an in-game object. It saved you."

"It saved me…" Yui said. "I can't remember."

"Where is GothGod?" Michiko asked.

"He is here," Yui said. "Almost eight years in the future. If you changed the past in a video game, would it affect the future?"

Kirito tilted his head. "No," he said. "We're not actually back in time, so that's impossible."

"If the game thinks it's real, then isn't that all that matters?" Yui asked. "It works…"

"What are you getting at, child?" Michiko asked the girl.

Yui turned around. "Michiko," she said. "GothGod and the Death Oath have been elevated to maximum level. You cannot defeat them."

She blinked, and the whole group looked at the little girl. "You can't remember anything," Eulsam said. "But you know that? How?"

Yui shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "It's one thing I can remember to tell you. Like I had to say it to myself over and over again to keep myself from forgetting. Now, it's all that's left. I cannot remember anything except to tell you this fact. Something important is happening in that room, and it's going to save everything." She pointed ahead into the room.

Kirito blinked as he started to realize something. "The administrator codes… they wouldn't work in the present, because the virus went through and erased the admin list. But if the game thinks we've gone back through time, then it's presenting us with the form of the game that existed then."

Eulsam nodded slowly. "So… hack the console, and write a code that won't execute until eight years into the future to bring GothGod down to a normal level. Why stop there? Why not write the logout code for the game?"

"Because GothGod will win," Michiko said. "He has likely already created a program for himself that will place him somewhere outside of the game instead of waking him up in the real world. There, no one can stop him, and he'll take over the real world. If everyone but him logs out, then he still wins. No one will keep him from hacking the system and regaining control."

"Why don't we use it to kill him?" Doc asked.

"Or delete him," Eulsam says. "With this kind of opportunity, we could write a program to delete him from existence."

Kirito shook his head. "No one deserves that fate," he said. "Killing him should be fine. Plus, there's no telling how the game might try to consolidate something like deletion. It could really screw things up in the present." Once the images of the past vanished, Kirito walked forward and into the room."

"No," Michiko said as she approached. "No, this is too easy… too simple."

"You think it's a trap?" Asuna asked.

"No," Michiko said. "But that's not how we do it. We fight him like normal. We cut him down. We look into his eyes in his last moments so he can know how everything has come to him, how he deserves this death."

"A noble sentiment," Sampson said. "I think I have to agree."

"If Sampson says so, I'm with him," Lisbeth said. "Besides, we can't die, and he can. Besides… what's a game without a final boss?"

Kirito thought for a moment. Eulsam shook his head. "Why though? We can kill him and be done with it…"

"I'd rather fight," Klein said.

"Alright," Kirito said. "I do… rather want to test out my new sword on someone stronger than the low level, mind-controlled players in Newberg. We lower his level, and fight him."

"Yes!" Michiko pumped her fist. Kirito turned back to the system console and got to work. A few moments later, they were all teleported a ways down the hall, and all back to their normal selves. They heard GothGod jump in panic as his level was suddenly shot down. He turned around to see his enemies.

"I've almost got this figure out, guys," GothGod said. "Hold them off!"

The Death Oath all transformed from their fleshy forms, to their ghostly forms, and drew their weapons. At their lead was FatalOne, who wielded a large scythe. "Boy does this bring back some memories," Asuna said. "Wait… Kirito… that sword."

Kirito drew one Elucidator, and one Divine Flame. The sword was long, and lit up in flames. "The Divine Flame," he said. "I was thinking just the same thing." FatalOne charged at Kirito, and he dove under the first attack, and then jumped from the ground to strike at the player's bottom.

Michiko was the next one leaping into combat, and then everyone was fighting. "Don't forget!" Eulsam shouted. "Divine-Type damage!"

Kirito smiled as he saw that his weapon was indeed dealing Divine-Typed damage. "Not a problem!"

Asuna went into her Valkyrie State, and started blasting the enemy with lightning and fury. Zeeka punched her fists into the ground. "Oh please," she said. "Let me show what the spirit world is capable of!" After she cast a spell, the players all found themselves on a different plane of existence, their surroundings were misty and white. But the Death Oath all appeared as normal humans. They stopped fighting, and blinked in surprise as the players were now on the same level as them.

"Oh," Klein said, "Now this… is awesome." He charged forward, and plunged his sword into one of the Death Oath, driving through his heart and killing him instantly. He got another free strike, but now they all started fighting again. Sinon activated her Heartbeat Shot. As time slowed down for her, she aimed and loosed five arrows, each of them nailing a Death Oath in the head, and then they were outnumbered.

FatalOne went into a whirlwind, and a purple energy shot from his weapon out at the players. Before the got anywhere though, Leafa had a shield up… around FatalOne, and the energy didn't make it beyond the shield. Eulsam drove his swords into another member, and then cut him in half. The rest of the party barely got a chance to fight as they all finished off the members of the Death Oath. Zeeka returned them to the real world, and then they stared at GothGod, who looked up at them, nervous.

He shook off his fear though, and turned to his younger girlfriend. "Darling," he said. "May I?" She simply smiled, and nodded her head. GothGod took a dagger, and stabbed the girl with it in the throat. A strange energy glowed around her, and shot into the wound. As he drew the blade out, she grew dizzy, but was slowly coming to. Her skin turned a pale color, and her eyes were suddenly bloodshot.

"What the hell?" Michiko asked, looking on. Within a flash, the girl was right next to her, and slashed her side with long claws, and then slashed her once more. Before a split second passed, she kicked Michiko and knocked her away and into a wall.

Klein prepared a Quickdraw, but even as he was unsheathing his weapon, the girl was racing towards him, darkness surrounding her, and she plunged a clawed hand into his chest, where she seemed to grip his beating heart, and she crushed it in her hand, killing him instantly.

The rest of the players were only just beginning to move to strike, but the girl was impossibly fast. She leapt up, and tackled Eulsam to the ground while the other players stopped in their tracks, losing track of her for a moment and having to look around for where she went. Eulsam was being ripped to shreds, and blood was splattering the floor.

Asuna activated her Lightning Flash Assault, and was just starting to transform into electricity when the girl punched her in the face, breaking her nose. Asuna was a bolt of lightning before she could get another hit, but her next attack was directed at Kirito, a spinning kick to the side, and then she bounced from him to Xaela, slashing at her throat. She landed on the ground in a crouch, staying still for a split second, just long enough for time to catch up.

The players all looked at her in shock. They were barely starting to process their injuries before she leapt into attack again as Sinon was firing her arrows. Each arrow, even during her Heartbeat Shot, missed, whooshing past the girl as she dodged and maneuvered towards Sinon. Before even the last shot was loosed, the girl was jumping up from the ground, and slashing at Sinon's chin with her claws.

Asuna turned to look at her, and swung with her sword, sending a bolt of lightning at the girl, and it was the first attack to actually hit her, sending her flying down the hall. It wasn't long before she was back up, and charging the players. Sinon was still stumbling back when she jumped at her, and gripped her tight, holding her and using her as a shield. The players all stopped their attack.

"What. The. Fuck." Lisbeth said, staring at her.

The girl sank her teeth into Sinon, and she started screaming her head off. The girl drained the sniper's blood, and as she did, her small amount of damage was healed. The players charged in while this was happening, but she had had her fill and was running away before they reached her. She was back guarding the door to the room with GothGod, and drew a rapier from her inventory. "You think that was fast," she said. "You haven't even seen what I can do!" She smiled, beaming brightly with pointed fangs.

Klein was resurrected, and Leafa healed the rest of the group back up. "She's a vampire," Kirito said. "I can tell that much, but I wouldn't think even a vampire could move that fast…"

"Vampire Fencer," the girl said. "Fencer is already the fastest class in the game. Throw in some unholy juju and you've got the fastest possible attacks! You cannot dodge or block them. Nothing you have can get past me but everything I have will get past you!"

"Asuna," Eulsam said. "Use your cooking…"

Asuna blinked at Eulsam, and raised a brow. "What?"

Klein suddenly nodded in agreement. "Yes! I want pizza! Right now!"

The vampire tilted her head. "What are you thinking?" she asked. "Are you going to offer me a fresh meal?"

Asuna suddenly got the drift, and nodded frantically, opening her inventory, and withdrew her sword to exchange it for a bag full of garlic cloves. The girl sniffed the air, and shook. Suddenly, she felt sick, and dropped to a knee. "Oh, come on!" she shouted. She moved to charge for the group with her sword, but was slower than before. The other players all dodged out of the way, and Asuna dropped her shield, holding up the food item in defense. The player-boss cut through the bag, and suddenly lurched back, shuddering and dropping her sword.

"It figures," Eulsam said. "That one of the best player-boss classes we've seen… would have such an obvious, easy set of weaknesses." Asuna opened the bag over her head, and she became a writhing mess. With that, the players stepped over and around her, and into the room with GothGod.

"That is bullshit," GothGod said. "The kind of bullshit I really wish I could fix right now! But fine! You want to fight with me, let's dance." He pulled out his sword and staff, and tapped the bottom of his staff to the ground. "But not here…" He held his staff high, and started casting a spell. The players lunged to attack him, but it was incredibly short.

Everyone appeared in a new place. All around them were grave stones, and the sky was a wicked green color. "Welcome…" GothGod said. "To my domain…"

"Where exactly is your domain?" Eulsam asked.

GothGod smiled and laughed. He took a few steps back as he started to explain. "This is the plane of the dead," he said. "Every corpse of every player from Aincrad and Vearth lies buried here. This… this is where I am unstoppable!"

"We'll have to see about that," Asuna said.

"Wait," Eulsam said, taking the situation in. "Why are you unstoppable?"

GothGod sighed, and opened his player stats, and swiped the panel over to the other group. It read: GothGod, level 184 Necromancer. "It should have been much higher," he said. "But… someone ruined all of my fun. It's no matter. I'm the highest level player in the game! And a player-boss! You've got no chance of beating me even if we fight fair!" He tapped his staff to the ground, and started casting another spell.

"Necromancer," Eulsam said. He looked around at all of the graves, and shifted from his two swords to his Tri-Blade. "Stop him… Stop him now!"

The players all started to charge at the enemy. Lisbeth was the first to reach him, charging in-flight. She launched a Divine Fireball at him, and it exploded on a shield. When she reached him, she swung her sword, but it impacted the shield. Zeeka started firing a stream of flames against the shield, and Sinon fired her arrows. This shield seemed to be prepared before the battle though, as it had a lot of power put into it.

As more players approached, the shield burst finally. Kirito was the first to try and get a solid hit on him. While still casting his very long, obviously very powerful spell, he swung his sword in front of him, and spires of green rock shot forth, blasting Kirito back. Asuna threw her spear, lightning following it, and GothGod simply slid to the left, out of the way. Sampson activated his Bull Rage, and charged for him. Another series of spires shot from the ground and knocked him back. Silica transformed into a Dire Elephant, and charged at him. She was incredibly large, but even she was stopped by the strange rocks.

Finally, his spell was complete, and a wave of green light moved out from him in all directions. He didn't wait then, and leaped into combat. He tossed his staff aside, and gripped his jade sword with both hands. He swung it down against his target: the large elephant, and dealt a serious blow, knocking Silica out of her Dire form. "I forgot to mention!" he shouted to them. The ground began to shake, and the players couldn't move as they held their ground, just to keep their balance. GothGod had no trouble. "This world is outside of Vearth! Your friends will not reach you here! If you die here, you die! No resurrection except for the sweet taste of undeath!"

As the ground stopped shaking, the corpses of players started to climb up from their graves. They were a mixture of skeletons and zombies. They all had the weapons they wielded in life. The players all moved to one group, forming up together. GothGod appeared to float into the air, to watch them… and cast spells.

As the undead began to attack them, they defended themselves. It wasn't difficult blocking and parrying attacks, but there was so many of them. They crowded around, and the players had trouble even getting some space around them to move. Lisbeth and Zeeka both started using fire spells to burn as many of them away as they could.

GothGod laughed at them for a good while, until Lisbeth flew up to meet him in the sky, and started going toe-to-toe with him. His bastard sword was more than enough to stop her basic attacks. But on top of that, he had his magic. He spun around backwards after deflecting a strike, and as he did, he spoke a quick spell, and Lisbeth went hurtling back into the ground, a green snake-like energy wrapping around her wings and binding them.

Now in the middle of a horde of undead, Lisbeth started to thrash around, whipping her tail around and knocking the undead away for a moment. Then, she went into her Paladin mode to make her way back towards the other players, where they were starting to make some space for themselves to fight. Leafa stood in the center, healing. Zeeka and Sinon stood right next to her. Zeeka did a combination of healing and damage. Sinon turned to fire her Starbolt Arrows at GothGod. They were blocked by his shield, and he ignored the assault for now.

Michiko pulled out another marked skull, and threw it to the ground, summoning a powerful demon to aid in their fight. The demon pushed many of the undead back from the party, and it allowed them to expand more. Once a good, wide space was cleared, GothGod crashed to the ground, entering the fight personally, once again.

"Kirito," Eulsam said. "You and Asuna get GothGod, we'll keep the mob at bay."

Asuna looked to him, and nodded along with Kirito. The two turned and charged for their enemy. Asuna's Valkyrie state was still on cooldown, so she played more defensively, leading in with a spear charge, and holding fast with her shield for the incoming strike of green, jagged rocks. The hit her shield, and pushed her back, before she whipped around, attacking GothGod with a swing of her spear as Kirito went in from the other side. She hit his shield, and broke it. Kirito's attacks were parried away one-by-one by their opponent.

GothGod threw his hand out towards Asuna, starting to cast a spell, but was quickly interrupted as a normal piece of rock shot up and hit him in the face, courtesy of Zeeka. He recovered quickly, and moved to block more incoming attacks from his sword-wielding opponent. Asuna's Valkyrie State went up again, and she looked to Kirito and gave a nod. He nodded back, and withdrew his Elucidator to draw a trash sword. "Blade Dancer's Fury!" he shouted out, and started to strike relentlessly with both swords. The burning sword looked like a flurry of lights dancing about, while the shattering of his trash swords against GothGod's sparked and flashed.

"Lightning Flash Assault!" Asuna spoke as she moved in. She warped around as a bolt of lightning, reappering and making strikes against GothGod. The Necromancer turned to a cloud of smoke, and vanished, reappearing a little distance away. The two players continued in their relentless assault.

As Kirito moved in, those jagged rocks shot out towards him. Still in his fury, he led with his legendary weapon. "Starburst Stream!" Now with two abilities active, he had no trouble slashing through the rocks, and reaching GothGod. Asuna joined in again after the path was cleared. GothGod got knocked around as he couldn't keep up his defense, and then teleported away once again.

The two players turned, and found him once more. They continued the charge. As they ran in, Asuna threw her sword around, shooting lightning at him. He couldn't even get his shield up in time. His health bar was about half full already. A normal player had normal hit points, player-boss or not.

He started casting another spell, and the two lovers were trapped in skeletal arms reaching up and grabbing their ankles. Asuna had no trouble escaping, as her Lightning Flash Assault was still active, and she simply warped away. GothGod flew up into the sky to start casting another spell, but of course, Asuna could fly to him.

Zeeka broke Kirito's trap after he deactivated Blade Dancer's Fury, and then propelled him into the sky with a platform of earth which fired up towards GothGod. He redrew his Elucidator, and slashed at the player boss. Another hit from Asuna knocked him to the ground. Then, Asuna called her spear back, and drove it right down into GothGod's chest. His health was nearly depleted. He teleported away.

When he reappeared, he was in the middle of the player group, next to Leafa, and went to grab hold of her neck. Zeeka whipped around and punched him in the face. The unexpected attack sent him stumbling back. He had siphoned just enough health from Leafa to survive that attack. Kirito and Asuna both charged for him. Asuna had dropped her shield to grip her Elucidator with both hands and put all of her strength into the attack.

GothGod blocked Kirito's Elucidator, only to have both of those other blades driven into his chest. He dropped to his knees, and watched as his health dwindled. He reached those swords, but the players still gripped them tight. He couldn't pull them out, and was too physically weak to activate a last second spell. His strength failed, and quietly he went, falling back from the blades and onto the ground, dead. He and all the other players were all teleported back to the system console.

The vampire was still writhing in misery on the ground. She looked over to her lover, to see he had fallen, and not taken a single one of the heroes with him. She looked up at them, and a tear fell from her eyes.

Kirito and the others all walked past her once again, holding no sympathy for the devil and his bride. All except for Michiko. She stopped and looked down at this girl. What was her name? "Harlock," she read it aloud while her group went on ahead of her. She looked down on this girl without pity, and shook her head. "I've learned a lot from this game. And I would love to show you mercy right now. But I can't. I don't know what you're capable of… if you can bring GothGod back, and I couldn't trust you if you told me no." She held her weapon's blade up to the girl's neck. "Do you have any last words?"

The girl's face turned from anger to regret, and she looked up at Michiko. "I'm… sorry, mom. You told me to make good choices… I never listened." She shut her eyes, and turned her head away. "Do what you must…"

Michiko whipped the blade outward, and the girl's head went flying off of her body, which fell to the ground. Then and there, Michiko dropped her bladed weapon. She took off her helmet, and dropped it as well. From there, she walked on without either of them.

_October 16__th__, 2031_

Newberg was free. The effects of the Mind Control stopped with GothGod's death. Players were recovering, mentally, from the time they were under the effects of mind control. Since then, an army was dispatched to round up the Red Hand, and take them prisoners until the end of the game. It was decided that whatever local laws those players resided under in the real world would have to settle their fates.

Red Hand weren't the only ones. The very few player-killers running wild throughout the world were hiding, and that included whatever remained of Laughing Coffin. There was no more hope for them, so they did everything they could to enjoy the last moments of the game before they had to face justice.

Kirito disbanded the Champions of Vearth, their mission complete. He and his friends, those from Aincrad and Vearth, all put away their swords for now, and stayed in Newberg, celebrating their victory, and celebrating the end of the game that was to come.

In the real world, the IVRTF would have to finish sorting things out. With GothGod no longer a threat, they could do what they could to intervene in the game and release the players. It would still take some time. A lot of time.

Kirito and the others were enjoying a late fall picnic out by a lake when news came in from Pegasus. Kirito was the only one to get the message, as it wasn't urgent. He read it aloud for his friends, after they gathered around. "Alright," he said. "So you remember that wizard guy. The one who helped in Tartarus and later with the Sands of Time?" They all nodded. "Well, it seems that he's dead. He was the oldest player in the game, and as of about forty minutes ago, he lost a five-year long battle against cancer."

The players all looked at Kirito. It was strange, after all this time, for someone to die of natural causes like that. It was sad but also relieving in some weird way. "It says here that Richard Clarkson's first brain tumor appeared about five years ago, and just before being trapped in the game, he was expected to make a full recovery. But… while in the game, it came back with a vengeance. About two and half years into the game, things started turning for the worst. They want to know if we want to say anything about it."

"Who?" Zeeka asked. "I never met him."

"We all hardly knew him," Asuna said. "He was just a helpful older gentleman that came by when other players needed him."

"We might not have beaten Cronus without his help," Eulsam said.

"Michiko," Kirito said, reading on. "Apparently… you were involved in something with him."

She looked up, and blinked. "What?"

"They're saying that at one point, you saved his grandson from Newberg. He said in a dying statement that he was grateful for being able to spend more time with him as a result."

Michiko shrugged. "I saved lots of people… I killed lots of people. It's kind of a normal thing here I guess."

"Don't downplay it, Michiko," Xaela said. "You dedicated your time here to helping others, and even formed a guild to help do it. If you count up the number of people you've killed… people who deserved death… against the number of people you saved, you've probably saved a lot more."

"Why don't they tell us when the game's going to be over already?" Klein asked. "We've done our part. Why don't they hurry up and do theirs?"

"I'm sure they're working on it," Asuna said. "GothGod, who had all of the knowledge of the internet and the game's system at his disposal, couldn't fix the problem the virus created with more than a day to work. It's going to take a while."

"We should enjoy ourselves in the meantime," Michiko said. "When we get back, we'll have to do physical therapy, and deal with the woes of fame and fortune. I have a Paris flight to plan too."

"We're actually anxious to hurry up and get that stuff out of the way," Lisbeth said. Sampson was sitting next to her. "Sampson's moving to Japan and he's going to finish his degree there. We're going to start a family together."

"And we have a wedding to plan!" Asuna said, looking up at Kirito from her spot laying on the grass. "And a daughter to raise…"

Later on, as the sun started to set, the players started leaving, one-by-one, until only Kirito and Asuna were left. They sat next to each other until the sun set, and then, they decided not to leave, and slept beside each other under the stars, finally feeling safe.


	43. Chapter 42: Liberation Day!

The air was heavy with a dense fog, and the sky blotted out with ashes. Xaela walked alone through a swampy forest, the zone called the Black Bog where the Black Wardens started out. She heard a strange whisper, and suddenly felt her heart beat faster, a panic rising in her. She started to run, but she couldn't even see what she was running from when she looked back. After only a few seconds of running, her feet were stopped, trapped in the mud. She opened her player menu, and went to pull out her weapons, but when she did, they weren't there.

She turned her head to try and look back, and then turned back to face forward again, and tried to reach down to dig her feet free. When she did, she stopped, and screamed, noticing that her right hand was a bright red… a bright red when all the rest of the world was dark greens, grays and browns. Even her clothes and skin were dim, but the color of her hand was so bright, it was like a light in the dark.

The girl shook her head, and started again to try and dig, when her hands caught on something in the sludge of water and silt. As she tried to pull it up, she realized that she was pulling a helmet from the ground—Mokatso's helmet that hid Michiko's identity while worn. Normally, this helmet left very little open space to see the face on the other side, but the small space for the eyes to peer through suddenly opened. She dropped it, and suddenly, she was pulled down to her knees.

"Xaela," she heard a voice from behind her, and felt a cold blade touching the spot where her shoulder meets her neck. She turned her head, and glanced behind her to see Michiko looking down at her, the fires of judgment alight in her eyes.

Xaela barely started to speak—her mouth just starting to open to utter the words "I'm sorry." No words came out, and she was taken out of her body to see her head fall from it.

And that's when she woke up… every time at the same spot. She shot up from her bed, gasping for air and looking around in a cold sweat of terror. She slowly calmed down, and looked to her side to see Michiko lying beside her. The girl slept like a rock, barely stirring from Xaela's movements, and that fact calmed her slowly. Xaela sank back into her bed, and cuddled up to her sleeping girlfriend, slowly falling back to sleep.

* * *

><p>As morning came, Kirito rose, and yawned. Sleeping on the grass had become a normal thing for him and Asuna to do. It had become an expression of freedom from the fear of death, as well as a romantic end to every evening. It had now been fifteen more days, and time was dragging on into the month of November. He looked around though, and Asuna was gone. "Asuna?"<p>

* * *

><p>Back in town, Asuna was walking through the chilly streets. The sun was just starting to rise, and as she walked along, she saw Eulsam sitting on a bench in the town's center square. She approached him. "Samuel," she said.<p>

He looked up at her, and yawned before shaking his head. "Samuel… my real name. You can call me Sam, but Samuel is what you called me when we were together." He sighed, and got up to his feet. "I'd prefer that you didn't drag that back up."

"Sorry," she said to him. "For that and for… how it ended."

"I don't think either of us has yet officially broken up with the other yet," Eulsam told her. "If we did, I forgot it during all the fighting."

"Does it really need to be said?" Asuna asked. "This is a mutual thing, right? You understand why it happened, don't you?"

Eulsam nodded. "I understand," he said. "But… it's not like that doesn't make it any less painful. I know it may not have seemed like much to you, but it was a big deal to me. I'm being a good sport about all of this, I think. So I'd really rather put it behind me… officially."

"Alright," Asuna said. "Eulsam, I'm breaking up with you. Does that feel any better?"

He shook his head, and chuckled a little as he started to walk past her. "The things you promised me," he said. "I know it won't happen, but at the time, were you being sincere?"

Asuna nodded to him. "At the time," she said. "Yes, those were real promises, but things changed."

"Promises don't change," Eulsam said back. "Promises get broken."

"Forgive me?"

Eulsam turned back to her, and sighed. "I don't think I really have much of a choice if I want to keep being friends with you… and the rest of our little group. If I didn't walk away from this with new friends, than I would walk away with nothing at all. You get to go back to your family, marry your sweetheart and raise a child with him. I don't have anyone to go back to. What will I do with my life once this is over?"

"The same thing as everyone else," Asuna said to him. "You'll just have some more catching up to do. You'll find yourself someone special from the real world, and you'll have a family yourself."

Eulsam shook his head at that. "I think I'm done trying to strive for a life with someone else. My experience with love has been… wholly depressing. My first serious girlfriend got stolen by my own dad, and my second one was in love with someone else."

"Third time's a charm," Asuna said. "Isn't it?"

Eulsam didn't respond, and walked away from the scene towards the keep. Asuna didn't know what else to say to him, and so she turned and walked her own way.

* * *

><p>Kirito walked back to the city after a couple minutes of waking up. The sun was in the air, and lighting the place up. People were starting to populate the streets once again, and as he walked toward a shop to find some breakfast, Michiko and Xaela ran into him. "Kirito!" Michiko shouted ahead and started running towards him.<p>

Kirito turned around, hearing his name, and stopped to talk to Michiko, and Xaela who caught up shortly after. "What's up?" he asked them.

"Not much," Xaela said, before Michiko could get a word in. "We're going to get some breakfast."

"Oh," Kirito said. "Me too, want to come with?"

"Sure," Michiko said. Xaela shrugged, and tagged along as they walked. "Kirito, where is Asuna?"

Kirito shrugged. "Asuna is her own person," he said. "She can be on her own if she wants to. When I woke up, she was already gone. She probably went to get food like the rest of us."

"Oh, it's not Asuna we don't trust," Xaela said, jokingly. Michiko chuckled at it, and Kirito rolled his eyes.

"Kirito, I've been talking to Xaela about it, and she agreed that I could have some fun with you and Asuna if she got to join in."

Kirito blinked at her. "I don't recall either of us ever coming to any kind of agreement," Kirito said. "You say that like it's a sure thing."

"That's okay," Xaela said. "I didn't really want to do that anyways, but Michiko insisted."

"Yep," Kirito said. "She's pretty persuasive. Asuna would never agree to it, though. Don't be silly."

Michiko stepped in front of him. "Okay, how'bout a bet?"

"Another bet?" Kirito asked. He kept walking, moving around her and heading for a near-by diner.

"If I can convince Asuna to agree, then you don't put up any more argument against it, and you join in," Michiko said. "But if I can't, it doesn't matter anyways, so I'll drop it and leave you alone."

"It's not going to happen," Kirito said. "So if it will get you to leave us alone, then sure, I'll play that game. Once we get back to the real world though, your time's up. We have a life to get back to." Kirito entered the diner and sat down, waiting for the player staff to take their order. His fame meant that he was waited on pretty quickly.

"Kirito," a young looking girl said to her as she approached the table. "And Michiko… and Xaela. It's nice to meet you! What can I get for you?"

"I don't know," Xaela said. "Are there waffles in the virtual world? Can I get waffles?"

"Vearth's dishes were made to mimic real food as well as expand on them," the girl said. "So… yes, we have waffles."

"I think I'll get those too…" Kirito said. Michiko nodded along, and then the girl left to place the order.

"As a part of the bet though," Michiko said. "You can't tell Asuna about it until it's over, and you can't side for or against it. You have to let her decide for herself."

"Fine with me," Kirito said. He looked to Xaela, who was biting her lip at the topic of conversation. "Don't forget to let Asuna know that Xaela has to join in, too, for it to happen."

"This is a really weird conversation," Xaela said. "Can we talk about something a little more… positive and wholesome? Like uhh… Kirito! How is Yuichi?"

"Yuichi is fine," Kirito said. "I can't wait to see her in person… in the real world. It's going to be weird, coming into her life so late, but… since I saw her in the game, it's nice to know that I'm a good father to her in the future."

"If she was real," Michiko said. "I've been thinking…"

"About what?" Kirito asked. "It's not something I'm prone to doubt."

"You know what the situation was like in the real world, with GothGod making threats and the IVRTF unable to do anything," Michiko said. "But… perhaps that's not entirely true. Heathcliff, the Angels of Aincrad, the Valkyries of Vearth, Yuichi… it all seems awfully… convenient, to say the least. And why haven't any of them ever appeared before? Would it really take Kayaba that long to help out?"

"I don't doubt," Kirito said.

Xaela smiled at him, and then to Michiko. "See… faith. Pretty amazing, huh? Why are you going on like this, though? Wasn't your sister one of the Valkyries of Vearth? Don't you believe that she was real?"

"I was able to believe that," Michiko said. "And not believe it at the same time… There's something here that just doesn't add up. At the end of Sword Art Online, Kayaba Akihiko attempted to upload himself to the internet. They said he failed."

Kirito shook his head. "He succeeded. Proof of that came to me in Alfheim, when I fought against Oberon to save Asuna. I met him in the virtual world, and he gave me The Seed."

"Alright, so I can grasp that, but… what of the other players? Sachi, Diabel… the Angels of Aincrad doesn't make a lot of sense if you think about it. They could tell what Kayaba was trying to do pretty easily, but… those who died in Aincrad had no similarities to Kayaba's brain scan. So… how did their consciousness wind up floating around in cyberspace?"

The food came to the table, and Kirito looked at Michiko, silent.

"The fallen players of Vearth alone would have made sense, but not the fallen players of Aincrad. And come to think of it, the IVRTF was always updating us through Pegasus up until around the time Yuichi showed up. Then they became… awfully quiet. And why did Heathcliff also suddenly disappear? Why was the administration program the same one used in Sword Art Online one-point-oh? And how random was it that Sachi came in to tell us where we needed to go next?"

Kirito looked down at his waffles, and grabbed his fork and knife. "Michiko," he said. "I don't care. I choose to believe!" With that, he dug into his food. Xaela shrugged, and did the same. Shortly after, Michiko joined the party, chowing down on delicious food.

"You know what I really don't understand is Yui and Yuichi appearing in the depths of Fallen Aincrad," Kirito said.

"And that too!" Michiko told him. "How convenient, right?"

"That's not what I'm talking about…" Kirito finished his meal, and took a drink of his water. "The whole feeling of it… it felt like something was seriously out of place there." After a few moments, he spoke the words "Remember me." He thought for a moment. "Why is that the recurring theme? Are we forgetting something important?"

"GothGod is dead," Xaela said. "The Death Oath… are dead. The IVRTF is going to free us from the game. We're getting out of here. That's all that matters now, as far as I'm concerned."

* * *

><p>With death no longer a possibility, many more players had left Newberg to explore the world. The low level players who before stayed away from danger now had nothing to fear, and wanted to experience the game part of the death game for once. Many of the stronger players took them out in groups, and showed them the ropes of the game. Zeeka was one such player. Behind her was a group of about fifty players.<p>

"Alright, everybody!" she shouted to the group. "Listen up!" As she turned around to face the crowd, she held her hand to the earth, and it raised her up on a pedestal to see over the crowd. Behind her was a cave opening. "This is a mid-level dungeon, so… you'd probably be too weak to enter it alone, but that's why you have me! As a healer-DPS combination class, player-boss, an ex-Champion of Vearth, and veteran of the great Salamandraus raid, I'm pretty confident that I can keep you alive."

"But we revive in fifteen seconds!" one player shouted.

"Shush!" Zeeka said. "Don't insult my healing capabilities, I will keep you alive like it's still a death game, and your lives depend on it, because otherwise, it'd be too easy for me! Take it slow, and don't forget, you can still feel pain, so you will want me to have your back! And if you want me to have your back, you'll use good strategy and not do anything stupid! Stupid players don't get healed in my groups! Who's ready?"

The players all looked at her. One of them spoke out. "We have no idea what's in there! What is our strategy, exactly?"

"Good!" Zeeka shouted back, and jumped off of the pillar to head into the dungeon. "Because I don't know what's in their either. Tanks to the front, please! Today, I'm going to teach you how to improvise attack patterns."

The players all went in with her, and many moving ahead of her. As they delved into the dungeon, a series of monsters appeared. They were like gargoyles, made of stone and had great wings, but they wielded heavy stone weapons. As they went to attack, the tanks turned and ran. Zeeka rolled her eyes. She used her magic to cause those players' feet to sink into the earth, and they were stuck. "Tanks," she said. "If this were still a death game, your whole party could wind up dead because of you. I am disappointed." She turned them around to face the charging monsters, and let them go. "Now, fight!" The four looked scared, but each of them held their ground, knowing Zeeka wouldn't let them run.

* * *

><p>"Guilt by Association," Eulsam said as he pulled up a map, and spoke to members of his Veteran Protectors. "They are a splinter faction of the Order of the Red Hand that sprouted up and started causing trouble to the west of here. They hold the same practices of the Red Hand, but they're extremely small. Nonetheless, with all of these low level players roaming around, they've managed to round up a lot of easy prisoners, and once again, slavery and torture are their trademarks. Even though players can no longer permanently die, they have found a way to continue being pests in this world that we simply cannot ignore. We're going to march in with two hundred players, round them up, and bring them to our prisons."<p>

"Are we to expect heavy resistance?" someone asked.

"Yes," Eulsam said. "They no longer need to fear death. And they're accustomed to torture and cruelty. So don't expect them to go easily. There are about sixty of them in total, by the last count. We'll need to actually restrain them now, since we can't just kill them, but don't be afraid to kill them and put the shackles on their dead bodies while they're waiting to revive. Everyone set?" The players nodded. "Alright, round up your troops, and let's get moving."

As Eulsam was leaving the keep, Michiko and Xaela ran into him. "Eulsam!" Xaela shouted. He stopped, and turned to face the two as they came up. "We heard you were going after some ex-Red Hand. We wanted to join you."

"Michiko," Eulsam said. "Didn't you leave your weapon behind after we fought GothGod?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I was wondering if I could just take yours." Eulsam shrugged, and traded her his own Tri-Blade.

"Alright, you're certainly welcome to tag along," Eulsam said. "Mount up, and let's ride!"

* * *

><p>The players had to take a few nights to sleep on the way to the GbA headquarters in Serenity Falls, where the Terrorfall Heights used to be before the shattering. On the last night camping out, the player-killers attacked them by surprise. A quick alarm was sounded, and Michiko and Xaela rushed from their tent to join the fight. The crueler players were slashing away at the VPG, not killing, but cutting them and hurting them enough so that they were left unable to fight.<p>

Xaela drew her weapons, and started fighting back. Killing the lower level players was no trouble for the insanely high level Xaela, and Michiko was in the same position. While killing them was a permanent solution any more, it certainly put a dent in their attack strategy. Eulsam also fought against them, using dual blades to cut through the crowd. He started to order the VPG to focus on restraining the dead GbA players.

While they were fighting, Xaela saw something strange in the distance. A cloaked player wielding a Tri-Blade exactly like Michiko had joined the fight. The player was dressed in black and green, and moved in all of the same attack patterns as Michiko had always done. She stared at them, and pointed them out to her girlfriend. "Michiko," she said. "Look." Michiko stopped fighting to look.

Michiko blinked, and then gasped. "That's… that's my blade!" She saw that the Tri-Blade was not just any copy of the weapon, but was an identical match to the one she once wielded. Michiko decided to chase after this other player, and Xaela joined her.

Once the faux Black Warden saw them coming, they headed away from the battle, and the two tailed them into a secluded spot in a valley, but seemed to lose them. "Let's split up," Xaela said. "I'll message you when I find her… or… him." Michiko nodded, and they split up.

Xaela found the player shortly after, or rather the player found her, jumped at her and attacking, swinging the blade against her. Xaela moved her spear in time to block the attack, and then moved to strike with the sword, and only to have it parried away. The blade sank into Xaela's gut, and then she got kicked away and onto the ground. Her health sat at forty percent.

The player walked up to her, and looked down. Not only did she have the weapon, but the helmet she wore was exactly like Michiko's, and the players name read as Mokatso. "Xaela…" The voice was muffled, a disguise identical to the one the Black Wardens all used. "Former member of the Red-Handed. You have killed exactly eight innocent players, tortured twenty-three more, and corrupted another three into joining the Red-Handed. For your crimes against the players, I sentence you to carry out the remainder of the game with your freedoms taken away." The player pulled out some type of item, a pair of shackles, and approached Xaela.

Xaela was no pushover. Though in pain, she pulled her spear up and thrust it at the fake Mokatso. The attack was quickly deflected, and the player pulled it and threw it away, and then dropped down onto the girl to punch her in the face. Xaela struggled against the player as they tried to get a hold of her hands. Before she was lost, Michiko arrived, and knocked this Mokatso away with a throw of her weapon.

"Who are you?" Michiko asked.

Mokatso stood up, and looked at her. "I am Mokatso."

Michiko tilted her head, and shook at her. "No no," she said. "Mokatso is not real. Mokatso was my alter ego. I am Mokatso!"

"Mokatso…" the player spoke in that muffled voice. "Is not a player. Mokatso is an idea. Mokatso is the symbol of Justice in this world. You gave up being Mokatso, and now Mokatso is me."

"You're crazy," Michiko said. She held up her hand, and then blinked. She had expected her special Tri-Blade, the one now in Mokatso's hands, to fly back to her, the result of an enchantment she placed on it some time ago, and never got to use.

"The weapon beckons only to its true master," Mokatso said. "Me."

"Regardless of who you think you are," Michiko said. "I'm not going to let you hurt my girlfriend. That's my job!"

"Your lust, and your malice," Mokatso said. "And your pride! These are you sins. They have clouded your judgment since the beginning. Mokatso is now free of your taint, a true symbol of justice. If you find companionship in a player-killer… knowing full well the crimes they have wrought, then you are guilty by association." Mokatso began to move forward to Michiko. "I will cleanse my name of your memory, and you to will be bound in the chains bearing the weight of your sins!" Mokatso then charged at Michiko, and she jumped back to avoid the first attack.

Before things got much farther, Eulsam approached the two. He drew his dual blades, and ran at the attacker, hitting them from behind by surprise. Once he saw who he was fighting, he was equally surprised.

Mokatso looked at Eulsam, and then turned to run from the three of them. Xaela drank down a healing potion, and then shook her head. "What was that all about?"

Michiko shook her head. "I don't know…"

* * *

><p>As it got closer to Christmas, the game started to make it snow. The lakes froze, and players went ice skating again. The VPG now ran strictly security, as the very last of the player-killers were rounded up and thrown into in-game prisons within Newberg. Eulsam even retired from the Protectors to spend more time with his friends.<p>

Kirito and the others spent time together in a large house they had built on the edge of a lake. Now, the lake was frozen, and they stayed inside for a hot meal. "How long does it take to fix a stupid little virus?" Klein asked. "It's been over a month since GothGod died, and we're still waiting around for the IVRTF to get us out."

Kirito shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "But it is definitely taking a long time."

"Well, it's not like we don't have anything to do here," Michiko said. "There's a hot springs in the caldera we could go to. It might make for a romantic adventure, don't you think?" She smiled at Xaela, who sat next to her.

"It could be fun," Silica said. "If I had someone to be romantic with." She giggled a little before taking a bite of food.

"I'd be interested," Asuna said. "And you don't have to bring a date to have fun at a place like that, you know."

"It'd still be nice to have one," Klein said.

"I think I'm going to miss out on that one," Eulsam said. "Sorry guys." Asuna looked at him, and frowned. He looked back at her, and shrugged.

"Won't it be cold in the winter?" Zeeka asked.

Lisbeth shook her head. "Oasis Caldera hasn't cooled off since the eruption. I think the zone is just registered as permanently hot now. It snows though, which is cool. Snowing in warm weather… you don't see that in the real world."

"We'll head there tomorrow, then," Kirito said. "Or at least that's my plan, you're welcome to come with me." He stood up after finishing his meal. "But first… skating!" He headed out the back and down towards the frozen lake, where many other players were already enjoying the ice.

Slowly, the table cleared, and the last people there were Asuna and Michiko. Michiko had waited for her there while the rest finished. "Well," Asuna said. "Looks like it's time to join everyone else." She got up, and then Michiko got up with her.

"Asuna," she said. "Have you thought about what I offered?"

Asuna turned to her, and shook her head. "I haven't thought about it, no, because it's not going to happen."

The girl went around the table, and leaned against a chair as Asuna started to go. Where they were sitting, Asuna had to walk around the whole table to reach the back door. "It'll be fun," she said. "Lots of fun."

"The way you keep saying fun…" Asuna said. "It's kind of… silly."

Michiko nodded to her, and smiled. "I suppose it is," she said. "I guess we're both mature enough for me to be a little more direct."

"Oh boy…" Asuna said.

"When you're sucking Kirito's—"

"Okay!" Asuna interrupted. "I think that's enough of that, and too much to drink for you!"

"Just tell me," Michiko said. "Does he watch you the whole time until he finishes, or does it get to a point where he starts to shudder a little bit, kinda like a girl, and drop his head back, to pant like a beat dog?"

The blush on Asuna's face could've competed for position at the front of Santa's sleigh.

Michiko leaned in close to her, and whispered. "I do hope it's the latter," she said. She brought a finger up and traced it through the long, red hair. "Because… I would hate it for him if he never got to feel that kind of… satisfaction from a woman again. But oh!" She stepped away from Asuna, and started to head around the table towards the door. "What a shame it'd be if I was the only one to give it to him, and not his loving… caring wife…"

Asuna was frozen in place as the other girl walked for the door. She turned to her, and stopped her. "Michiko," she said. "I… I want to see that. You win." Michiko smiled back at her, and Asuna started to head for the door. "We'll get together at the hot springs, okay?"

Michiko nodded to her. "Alright, I just want one thing to seal the deal."

"What's that?" Asuna asked, he blush slowly fading. Michiko leaned into her, and made contact with her lips. She didn't move, and slowly, Asuna responded, kissing her back, her blush returning, and then coming away from the girl. She laughed at herself, and turned away in embarrassment. "You could have warned me, first!" she said.

"I could have, but… that's not my style," Michiko told her. She didn't do anything else there, and opened the door to start heading out. "How was it?" she asked.

Asuna turned and tagged along with her. "I… don't know," she said. "Weird."

* * *

><p>While everyone else left for the hot springs in Oasis Caldera, Eulsam stayed in Newberg. He was at a tavern, ordering a drink when he was approached by a familiar character. Rexem came and sat down next to him. "Sammy," he said.<p>

Eulsam turned his head, and narrowed his gaze towards his father. "What are you doing here?"

"What?" the man asked. "Can't a father say hello to his son?"

Eulsam shook his head. "You are no father…" He took a drink, and started to get up.

"I've done a lot of things to you, Sammy. But I never disowned you."

Eulsam stopped on his way out, and turned around. He clapped his hands sarcastically. "Oh, well… father of the year!"

"I lost a lot of loved ones," Rexem said. "Your mother and your sister both left me. My parents died when I was young. Are you leaving me to?"

"You forgot to mention our mutual girlfriend," he said, growing angrier at him. The players in the bar were starting to leave as the conversation went on. "Yes, I'm leaving you. I want you out of my life for good."

"You can't get rid of me that easily," Rexem said. "You treat me like I'm a player-killer."

"You are…"

"I never hurt another player."

"Not directly," Eulsam said. "You let other players die for you though. You led players to their dooms so you could have a shot at glory. Your whole guild is dead, except for you and that claymore."

"Azrealda?" Rexem asked. "Oh… no, she bit the dust too, before the end. How is your girlfriend? Asuna was it? That girl gets around, doesn't she?" Eulsam glared at him, and stepped forward, raising both of his swords. "What will you do? Kill me?"

Eulsam sheathed both of his weapons, and nodded. "Yes," he said. "If I see you again in the real world, I'm going to kill you. Fuck criminal charges… You're dead."

Rexem raised his hands up, and accepted defeat. "Alright, fine. This is the last we'll see of each other." Eulsam turned and left. A few moments passed. The place was empty. When Rexem got up to go, he was staring Mokatso face-to-face. "Who the fuck are you?"

Mokatso slapped the strange shackles on the man, and then, he vanished. The player walked out of the bar following the event.

* * *

><p>The hot springs in Oasis Caldera were right near the edge of the canyon that the eruption carved into the Earth, on the border between the caldera and the Dune Sea. Since Salamandraus's defeat, the lava pools had drained out, and bright, green grass grew in their place, or, in deeper spots, bright, crystal blue lakes sprung up.<p>

The area Kirito and the others stayed in was rather large, and a small town was built up near-by. That was where the group entered in through, as the rest of the springs were bordered by a stone wall, and armed guards walked around the rim of the area. When they arrived, they saw that the town was held and controlled by a guild. Their banners were bright green, with a sky blue, simplistic graphic of a pond, and white steam trails above it.

"What's the deal with all this security?" Asuna asked as she walked into town with their group.

A couple of players walked up to them as they headed for the town's center. They wore white and green robes, but not like the type of robes made for combat or those adorned by devout followers in a place of worship. These were a lot more like bath robes. "Welcome!" they both said in unison.

"I am Lady Daniele," one of them stated.

"I am Lady Su," the other said.

"Welcome to Oasis Springs." Daniele continued on with the introduction from there. "Normally, we would ask you who you are, but, you are quite well known, Champions of Vearth."

"The Champions of Vearth disbanded," Kirito said, trying to be more familiar with the two of them. "You can just call us by our names. What's the deal with the guild presence here?"

"Well," Daniele said. "Oasis Springs is a small micro-zone controlled by the Spring Maidens. We protect this area from unfriendly players, and maintain security as well as privacy within the springs."

"What do you mean?" Klein asked. "The game is safe now."

"Yeah, you'd think there'd be no more need for security," Michiko said.

Su sighed, and shook her head. "Unfortunately, when it comes to the Oasis Springs, players tend to fight over petty things. When players first started to come here after the liberation of Newberg, there was plenty of different lakes and pools to visit, and everyone got their privacy. But it was less than a week before so many players began to flock here that privacy was no longer valid."

"The Spring Maidens were the first here. We're a mix of high and low level players, and so we gathered up and built this town, and established a secure perimeter to maintain order. Our goal is to simply keep players from fighting over their spots. And as more players came here, the more we've had to divide up time at the various natural spas." Daniele pulled out a paper, and handed it to Kirito at the head of the group. "Players tended to enjoy particularly intimate scenes while here, and so we've made it our mission to aid in securing privacy for them."

Kirito looked at the paper, and on it was written a number. He read it aloud. "One-thousand, seven-hundred… sixty-nine. What's this?"

"It's your claim number!" Su told him, smiling and happy. "You're our One-thousand-seven-hundred-and-sixty-ninth visitor. There are a total of two-hundred-and-eighty-seven different hot lakes, ponds, pools and spas here. Each of them have been claimed by a visitor, who can hold their claim as long as they like… as long as they pay their share of taxes to the Spring Maidens. Currently, you are one-thousand-four-hundred-and-twenty-first in line."

The players' all drew blank face, and Kirito dropped the paper to the ground. It swayed back and forth before landing, and no one moved a muscle for a moment. "Welp." Zeeka was the first to speak. "So much for our vacation plans!"

"Enjoy your stay!" The two Spring Maidens left the party there.

"I guess we should go find somewhere else to visit," Silica said. "Anyone got any cool places we could visit?"

"Oh, Kirito!" another voice said. Klover, the large, blonde-haired man walked over to their group. Without all of his armor, he looked much less menacing. He had with him a few members of his guild, the Arctic Army. "I should have figured you would show up here. What brings you here?"

Asuna leaned forward, and looked up at him. "We're here on vacation," she said. "Or… we were going to go on vacation here, but it seems the springs are all booked up. How long have you been here?"

Klover looked at her, and laughed. He looked back to Kirito. "You should have told me you were planning on coming out. The Arctic Army supplied the guard forces for the Spring Maidens. We have a private, permanent claim on about twelve pools at the far northeastern edge of the barrier."

"You do?" Silica asked, getting excited.

Klover nodded. "You're more than welcome to stay with us! Most of the Arctic Army have had their fill of enjoyment, and have moved on to experience more of this world. They've left a lot of the place empty." He turned and waved over one of his guild-mates. "Valarie! Show Kirito and his friends to our place. We'll wait for you at the edge of town."

"Yes, sir!" the woman said.

"I'd stick around, but… we've been here a while already. We're going to head out farther east and see what's out there. Have fun!"

"Oh, okay, thank you!" Kirito said as Klover and his group left. Then, Kirito and the others looked to Valarie.

The woman nodded, and waved them over to her as she started to walk. "It's this way," she said. "I'll give you the rules of the Oasis Springs on the way, and tell you a little more about this place."

As they walked along, they reached the inner edge of the town, where there was a closed gate with guards. They moved aside to let Valarie pass, along with her friends. The gates opened for her. She stopped, and turned to one of the guard. "Hey," she said. "I need some VIP passes for my friends." The guard nodded, and counted out how many were in Kirito's group, and then pulled out a series of necklaces with golden keys attached to them. He handed them off to the party one-by-one.

"The security is very capable, but pretty simplistic," Valarie stated. "These VIP passes basically mean you don't have to stop at the gate to get yourself cleared. You can only enter Oasis Springs if you have an active claim, or if you are accompanying someone who does. With those though, they'll let you in and out, no questions asked."

"These don't look too hard to craft," Lisbeth said as she looked at it. "How do they know if they're real or not?"

"They have an enchantment on them," Valarie said. "And so does the gate. If the gate and a key get within two feet of each other, then the gate opens, and closes once the key leaves that distance. It has to be out though, and can't be in your inventory."

"Okay," Klein said. "So do we need to keep it out now?"

Valarie shook her head. "I just keep mine on me all the time here so I don't have to worry about it." As they walked down a cobble and dirt path, they noticed that trees and shrubs were grown around the pathways and they nearly completely blocked the view into any of the waters. "Think of this place like a resort, and the town as the hotels. Most of the pools are small and close together, so there's no way to build anything around them. The Arctic Army has a group of… what are basically beach condos around our pools. One of them is actually rather large."

They moved along until Valarie stopped at a wooden door. On it was a plaque with the number one-thirty-seven written on it. "Each pool is numbered, and although none of these doors are magically locked, if you try to intrude on another player's spa, and get caught, you'll be banned from Oasis Springs for life. They have very little tolerance when it comes to peeping. The only exception is for first-time guests who don't know where to go. Even then, there's still penalties in the form of hefty fees."

"Money wouldn't matter to people like us, who have been through plenty of content and are filthy rich because of it," Kirito said.

Valarie shook her head before she kept on walking. "Taxes and fees aren't paid with normal currency. They're paid with blood." The group stopped and looked at her. She turned around, and laughed a little at them. "Oh, right, I should have mentioned that first. The commander general… or as they call it, the Queen Elite of the Spring Maidens is a vampire—a player-boss."

"V-vampire?" Asuna asked. Memories of Harlock, GothGod's girlfriend, came back to the party.

"We've seen one before," Michiko said. "I killed her. She was an ally of GothGod."

"Player-bosses vary in nature though," Kirito said. "Zeeka and Lisbeth are on our side. I'm sure we can trust another one."

Valarie nodded. "She is trustworthy. I've talked with her in-person before, and even offered a little bit of my blood to her. She's actually very nice and friendly. Vampires need to drink blood like we need to eat. If she doesn't, she'll starve, and die. Only now, since death is impossible, it's just an endless cycle of starvation and death if she deprives herself of sustenance. Plus… no one's going to challenge a vampire's control over the land, especially if she is a fair and just ruler."

Kirito was the first to keep walking forward. "It doesn't bother me," he said. "Blood is nothing in this world but data. It's not really hurting anyone. But I am curious… aren't vampires weak in the water?"

"Only in running water," Valarie said. She led players on towards the Arctic Army's private spas. "But because of our standing with her and with the Spring Maidens, we don't pay taxes. We just always have claim on our pools, end of story." Soon, they arrived at the end of the road, and a wooden gate with the number one written on it. Valarie opened the gate, and let them in. "There's no one left here right now, so you'll have the whole place to yourself. Don't leave it a mess, or Klover will kill you."

"Kill us?" Klein asked.

"Well, since death is no longer a permanent fate here, we've all been known to take death rather lightly. To him, we are Vikings in Valhalla. We kill and what we kill returns to life, and we fight to kill and die again."

"After everything, you're so light-hearted about something like that?" Asuna asked her.

Valarie nodded to her, and then shrugged. "I guess… in a way, it's how we can unwind after playing this death game. We know we no longer have to fear death, but to have no fear of death in practice is much different than simply knowing." She walked in with them. "I'll give you a quick tour!"

The private pools of the Arctic Army were rather large. One pool centered on the property, and was about the size of a hotel pool, and small shacks and cabins were built up around it. Cobble and dirt paths led from the main pool to each hut, and to each of the smaller pools which were all secluded and hidden. "What do they say… me casa es tu casa," Valarie said. "Make yourself at home. No one has any specific claim on anything here, and we don't make a habit out of leaving personal and private possessions lying around."

After showing them the grounds, she went to leave, and waved them off. "Alright," she said. "Have fun, guys! If any of the Arctic Army comes around, you should be fine. Everyone pretty much knows who you are, and I'd be surprised if they gave you a hard time about being here." The group all said their good-byes, and she shut the door behind herself on the way out.

The group all returned to the large pool. They stripped down to some swimwear and hopped in to enjoy themselves. The air was warm, and, as promised, occasional snowflakes would fall to the ground, and melt on contact. The pools were hot, some like saunas and some like simple hot tubs. They relaxed and swam in the water until the sun started to set, and when it did, they set up a campfire and had a cookout.

"I wonder," Asuna said as she looked up at the stars. "If this is like Hawaii… Kirito, we should get married on Hawaii. I've heard a lot about it, but I've never been."

"Neither have I," Kirito said. "But it sounds like fun."

"I want to go," Lisbeth said. "Sampson and I are down for that."

"Won't Hawaii be an expensive trip for everyone to make?" Xaela asked.

"The profits from the show in the real world are directly benefiting us," Asuna said. "I got so many fans and followers in those few short days I was back… I think we could just ask for money whenever we wanted, and they'd flood our bank accounts."

Klein leaned forward, and looked at her. "So you're saying that whenever we get back, we're not only going to be famous, but we're going to be stupid rich?"

Asuna nodded and laughed a little him. "Well, I wouldn't be expecting to become a trillionaire or anything like that," she said. "But we should have plenty of money to support us for the rest of our lives. And who knows… the way things have gone, we might be able to make a living through gaming now. This world has become so popular, and such a topic of fantasy and entertainment… people are dying to be a part of it."

"Virtual gaming," Michiko thought about it. "The next American football league. The next soccer. We would be like pro athletes."

Sampson looked down, deep in thought. "Entertainment… in a place like this. We've been trapped. Thousands have died. More like the new gladiators. More like the new Roman Coliseum."

"It is kinda fucked up," Kirito said. "But… the past is almost behind us. If that's the future we're heading into, it means that we, as players, and the world as a whole is ready and able to move on from it, and turn this nightmare… a series of non-stop tragedies into something good."

"To the players like us who have been trapped here, risking our lives," Xaela said. "Suffering great injustices…" She nodded to herself. "It's a fine reward. I can accept it. Why shouldn't we benefit from our time here in such a way?"

"Would we be benefiting from the losses of others, though?" Sampson asked. "I'm not sure about it all. The players who gave up their lives… their friends and families. They're the ones who really deserve something after all of this, and no amount of financial gain will justify it. Other people profiting from their death and suffering is a slap to the face."

The players sat silently for a moment, eating their food. Klein was the first to say something. "Well, we didn't have to make it so depressing," he said. "I don't want to think of whatever I'm making when I get out of here as blood money."

"I don't think it's fair to associate one with the other," Michiko said. "What we did in this world we did because of our own choices… because we felt it was the right thing to do. We were the names of justice and freedom in this world, selflessly sacrificing for everyone else. Anything good coming out of this whole mess… well I'll just be glad it came. Let's get off of that topic though… It is depressing."

"We can talk about fun things!" Zeeka said. "I hope they can make Vearth into a real game in the future. I'm actually enjoying myself now that the possibility of death is gone. And don't tell me that, despite its origins, a world like this would be a fun place to play in! It's revolutionary in game design…" She took a big bite of some pork that they had skewered up over the fire pit.

"That might be fun," Kirito said. "Like Aincrad. We could start over from level one, and play the game for fun."

"I'm down for that," Klein said, raising a drink. Everyone joined in, and they toasted to it.

"Still though," Lisbeth said. "I wouldn't want to give up my player-boss class. I've grown rather sentimental of my status in this game."

"No way!" Zeeka said. "No telling if I'd be able to get it again."

"We'll just have to create sub-accounts for some new characters, then," Kirito said. "So we can keep our old ones for old time's sake." After that, he got up, and stretched out.

Michiko looked up at him, and then to Asuna. Xaela noticed her eyes darting around, and then leaned in to whisper to her. "Not on the first night here," she said to her. "Give it a couple nights. I'd rather be alone with you first anyways while we're here." Michiko nodded, and turned to kiss her before getting up herself.

"We're going to go find one of those private spas," Michiko said as she helped Xaela up with an extended hand. As the two started walking away, they moved by Kirito, and Michiko smirked at him. "See you two tomorrow night…"

"Night after that," Xaela said as she tagged along with Michiko.

Kirito blushed a little, as did Asuna. "What was that about?" Klein asked the two of them. "Got some big plans with the two of them?"

"It's nothing," Kirito said, shaking his head. The flush faded, and he led Asuna on in the opposite direction. "We'll be doing the same though. Have fun, guys."

Lisbeth and Sampson were already walking off down another path. Klein looked around as the group suddenly cut down in size. Now he was left with Silica, Leafa, Sinon and Zeeka. He leaned back in his seat. "Alone with a bunch of single ladies," he said. "I have no objections…"

Leafa laughed at him and rolled her eyes. "Hope you don't expect to hit it off with any of us," she said. "Besides, don't forget, Agil and Doc are coming tomorrow. You won't be the only odd man out, then."

Zeeka got up and walked back towards the pool. "You're a little too old for me, grandpa," she said.

Klein blinked and shook his head defensively. "I wasn't talking about you!" Sinon and Silica both laughed at him, and headed off to swim. Klein followed shortly after.

* * *

><p>Two night later, in Newberg, almost every player was asleep. Only a few wandered the streets, going about their lives. One such player had donned the mask of Mokatso, and wielded that Tri-Blade. This player walked towards a large, heavily guarded building. As they approached, four VPG guards approached them, weapons drawn. Before they could speak, Mokatso attacked, easily killing them, and moving on into the building.<p>

Mokatso walked through the halls, sticking to the shadows and avoiding detection. Slowly, they made their way down into a prison block, where a few thousand player-killers were held captive, each in individual cells. As the player walked by undetected, they walked towards an area sectioned off as maximum security.

Once inside, Mokatso went into the PK'ers cells, one-by-one. Johnny Black, Red-Eyed XaXa, PoH and a few other members of Laughing Coffin. Taravel, Talia and a selection of other Red Hand. NightRaver, the commander general of Guilty by Association. Those and about fifty others, all the highest profile player-killers. Mokatos went to each one, and while they still slept, placed the shackles on them. And each one vanished seconds later.

* * *

><p>As Kirito and Asuna were enjoying each other's company in a secluded spa, Michiko and Xaela wandered over to join them. They didn't notice when they approached, and so the first alert of their arrival was when Michiko and Xaela dropped into the water. Asuna opened her eyes and looked to see them, as did Kirito.<p>

"Hey you two," Michiko said. Xaela giggled at them.

Asuna wrapped her arms over her chest, and sank a little below the water. "What are you two doing here?"

The two of them were in the nude as well, Michiko the least ashamed of any of them. "Thought we'd join you," she said.

"Now's not really the best time to do this," Kirito said to her. "We were kind of enjoying some alone time."

Michiko sighed, and scooted herself over towards him. "Oh," she said. "You two, all alone out here, looking out over the horizon at sunset." The pool they were in was at the top of a small hill, and they could look out over the caldera from there. "How romantic…" She even went as far as to lean against the man's shoulder.

Kirito didn't budge, and sighed himself. "Asuna," he said, looking over to her. "I'm not doing anything you don't want me to." Asuna moved to Kirito, and clung against his other arm, shooting a possessive glare at Michiko.

Michiko giggled at her, and pulled away. "It's not fair you know," she said. "It's fine if you want to be alone, but this is easily the best spot, and you've claimed it for yourself every night now. At least let us have some time here…" Xaela waded over to her, and climbed up onto her lap. Most of her was still covered by the water. Michiko smiled up at her, and the two shared a brief kiss.

"Well," Asuna said, looking at Michiko still. "You're pretty intent on the whole thing, and I agreed to it… let's just get this over with."

Michiko shook her head. "It's not just getting it over with… That's not the point."

Asuna blinked at her, and pressed her face into Kirito's arm. "If you don't want to do it, we don't have to."

"I want to," Asuna said. Her voice was too quiet to make out completely. "I just don't want to."

"There's nothing to be shy about, Asuna," Michiko said, looking down at her. "I got Kirito to agree on the condition that you agreed. So it's all up to you what we do tonight. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Asuna looked up at her. She looked back to Kirito, and then took a deep, relaxing breath. "Okay," she said. "I'm in…"

* * *

><p>The following morning came, and they had all slept on the grassy floor around the spa. Michiko was the first to wake up and when she did, she had a message from Eulsam. She opened it up, and read it. "Mokatso infiltrated the prison. All max security inmates missing." Michiko blinked once, and then threw the message screen away, closing the menu. She laid back down and smirked, memories of the night before still fresh in her mind.<p>

It was a few more minutes before the others started to wake up. Asuna yawned, and stretched her arms out. She got up and tapped through her player menu to redress herself. Michiko was sitting with her feet in the pool. "Morning. Breakfast date?" she asked the girl. Michiko laughed and nodded, getting up. The two of them left down the path towards the main area.

Kirito and Xaela both joined in at separate times. All of the players were meeting up for food around another fire pit, and enjoying some light-hearted conversation. After everyone arrived, Michiko broke the news to everyone. "Alright," she said. "I have some bad news."

"What's that?" Asuna asked her.

"Eulsam sent me a message this morning. My alter ego, Mokatso, appears to have broken a lot of dangerous player-killers out of prison last night."

"Your alter ego?" Kelin asked.

Xaela nodded. "Yes," she said. "Someone who appears to have Michiko's old helmet and weapon. We ran into her some time back, and she attacked us."

"It was pretty strange, and we have no leads on her. In fact, that's all we saw of her for a while. But apparently, she's back in action." Michiko sighed and scratched her head. "I left my helmet and Tri-Blade behind as a sort of… way of letting go of my past here. I thought that since we finished off GothGod, Mokatso was no longer needed, and so I could stop being that person, and be myself again. I wish I had kept those items now."

"So are we going to try and find her?" Kirito asked.

"I don't know. I was going to ask you guys what you wanted to do."

Klein waved his hand dismissively. "This is the next heroes' problem. We're done being heroes in this game."

"We have a bit of responsibility," Lisbeth said. "As the highest level players in Vearth. At the very least, we should offer some insight on the whole ordeal. Who might have picked those things up?"

"Whoever they were," Xaela said. "They knew a lot about me and what I did when I was with Red-Handed. I'm thinking that they might be a former slave, maybe someone I wronged." She looked down, and shook her head. "I hope I didn't do something to cause this."

"You didn't," Sampson said. "Your involvement with the Red-Handed wasn't of your own free will. This was Katsuo's fault."

"I would help, but after so long being off the front lines," Agil said. "I'm not sure what I could do."

"Michiko," Doc said. "You and Xaela can stay here. Enjoy your time. I'll assemble the Black Wardens and we'll try to track down this fake Mokatso for you. She does a great injustice to the name you made for yourself… for all of us."

"I appreciate it," Michiko said. "But you really don't have to do that for me."

"We don't have to do it at all," Zeeka said. "The game's ending soon. Those players won't be a threat for much longer."

As if on cue, everyone got a message from Pegasus. They all opened it up, and it read:

"Attention Players! We have found a way to infiltrate the coding of the game, and reinstate the list of system administrators. This process will take several hours, but by eleven o clock tonight, in-game time, we'll have finished up here, and we'll log everyone out. Happy Liberation Day!"

The players' eyes all opened wide, and they looked at each other. There was a brief moment of silence, and then a sudden cheering. All around the springs players could be heard cheering. The noise went through the whole of Vearth. As they cheered, a count-down timer appeared above every player center in the game. It counted back from several hours.

* * *

><p>Mokatso received the same message. "Time's almost up," the player said to themselves. Mokatso stood before what looked like a massive, closed gate. "Soon… I will have finished my duties… soon, all those who have caused suffering in this world will suffer eternally!" The player held up their hands, and cast a spell. The door opened, and then, they ran inside.<p>

* * *

><p>Eulsam was alone for Liberation Day. He sat in a tavern while the party was going on outside, and drank alone. He thought about all he had gained and all he had lost. He wasn't sure if his life here meant anything.<p>

* * *

><p>That night, as the timer crossed over the one-hour mark, the largest party in the game was in full swing. Casters were shooting off spells to mimic fireworks. The streets of every town and city were flooded with players, food and entertainment. Kirito and his group had their own, private party in the Arctic Army's resort setup in Oasis Springs.<p>

"Can you believe it?" Klein asked the group as they enjoyed themselves. "After four whole years, we're finally going home!"

Kirito brought a cup up to him, and they clanged them together before drinking. "Everything we've been hoping for and waiting for… it's finally here."

Klein sat down, and smiled. "Do you remember, Kirito," he said. "The first time we met?"

"Of course," he said. "You asked me to show you the ropes, so I took you out to fight those boars. You thought it was a boss." He laughed at him.

Klein laughed back and shook his head. "It was all so new to me. It felt a lot harder than it was. When I couldn't log out though."

"You were freaking out about your pizza!" Kirito exclaimed. "That was the least of our worries… You know that pizza guy might have been the one to call an ambulance for you."

"Might have been…"

"Kirito," Asuna said. "Remember when we first met?" She sat next to him.

Kirito thought back, and nodded. "Things were a lot different then," he said. The memories, looking back, were happy. "The two of us, alone while everyone else formed up into parties." Kirito brushed her hair out of the way, and leaned in close. "You were cute there, sitting alone, in that jacket. I remember thinking that, and then when we were in combat, and it came off. Then, I thought you were beautiful."

Asuna blushed, and gave his lips a quick peck. "You looked like a dork."

"Ten!" the two of them heard. They looked to the clock, and Zeeka was the first to start the countdown. They joined in at five.

Four…

Three…

Two…

One…


	44. Chapter 43: The Final Boss

_The Distant Past, Aincrad, Floor 75… Floor Boss battle_

As Kirito, Asuna and Heathcliff held off The Skull Reaper while the rest of the party attacked. The monster was fast, and as it moved, it struck players with its scythe-like weapons. Many players were killed in this battle, but even though it was a heavy loss for the days of Sword Art Online, the losses were trivial by comparison to Vearth's numbers.

Nonetheless, the game was destined to end there. After the fight, the players all sat around, exhausted from combat, panting and sweating. "How many did we lose?" Klein asked.

Kirito looked up, and then went through his player menu to count the dead. "Fourteen died."

Agil looked up, and his eyes widened at hearing that number. "No way." Everyone else looked back, shocked.

"We still have stenty-five floors." Klein was struck with this realization, and things were looking grim.

"Will we really be able to reach the top?" Agil asked. He still laid on his back, resting and panting.

Kirito looked to Heathcliff. The man was the only one in the whole party standing tall, and he looked up slightly, towards the surrounding dungeon. He remembered their duel from several weeks earlier, and how Heathcliff moved impossibly fast to dodge his attack. The leader of the Knights of Blood was still sitting happily above fifty percent of his health.

Kirito gripped his Elucidator, and started to get ready to rise and fight. "Kirito-kun?" Asuna asked as she looked behind her, from where the two were leaning against one-another's backs.

In a surprise attack that shocked all of the players, he struck Heathcliff with his sword. But even more surprising was what happened afterwards. The floating text reading "Immortal Object" appeared above Heathcliff, and he turned to face Kirito.

"Kirito-kin, what are you—" Asuna ran towards him as she watched the attack, but stopped as she read the text. "Immortal Object? Wh-what's going on, commander?"

"The game ensures that his HP will never fall into the yellow zone." Kirito's words stirred the intrigue of the players. "Something has always bothered me, ever since I arrived here. Where does he hide while he watches us and adjusts the world? But I'd forgotten a simple piece of psychology. Something any kid knows. There's nothing as boring as watching someone else play an RPG. Isn't that right, Kayaba Akihiko?" The players were stunned at the accusation, taken aback by those words.

"Would you be so kind as to tell me how you figured it out?"

"The first time I felt something was wrong was during the duel. In that last instant, you were too fast."

"I suspected as much." Kayaba nodded his head. "That was an unfortunate mistake. You overpowered me to the point that I needed to engage the system's over-assist mode." He looked around at the players, and smiled at Kirito. "Yes, I am Kayaba Akihiko. And if I may add, I am the game's final boss, who would have awaited you at the top floor." The players gasped at his confession.

Asuna became incredibly disheartened, and clung to Kirito's arm. "That's pretty bad," Kirito said. "The strongest player betrays us to become the last boss?"

"Not a bad storyline, is it?" Heathcliff shrugged. "I always thought that you would be the one to stand before me at the end. Dual-wielding is the skill given to the player with the fastest reaction time, who will then act out the part of the hero that challenges the Demon King. But your power exceeded my expectations. Well, these unexpected events are part of the fun of an MMORPG."

As Heathcliff spoke, another member of the Knights of the Blood Oath gripped his sword, and started to stand. "Our loyalty… Our hope…" He started to rise as he spoke. "How dare you… How dare you?" He jumped up to attack Heathcliff, shouting "How dare you?!"

Heathcliff opened his player menu, and applied the paralysis effect to the player, and then started applying it to every player there, except for Kirito. The attacker dropped mid-air, and hit the ground hard. "Paralysis?" Kirito said, just as Asuna was affected.

"Kirito-kun…" she spoke as she slipped down to the ground. Kirito caught her, and held her in his arms.

"What are you going to do?" Kirito asked. "Kill us all and cover it up?"

"Of course not." Heathcliff still stood, proud and strong as ever. "I wouldn't do anything so unfair. Very well then… I shall await you on the top floor, within the Ruby Palace. I've put a lot of time into developing the Knights of the Blood Oath and the other front line players, so it's a shame I have to leave them partway. However, I'm sure that with your power, you'll reach me eventually. But first…" He shoved his sword and shield to the ground, clanging the metal. "Kirito-kun," he said. "I must reward you for deducing my identity. I shall give you a chance."

"A chance?" Kirito asked.

"The chance to fight me one-on-one," Heathcliff told him. "Naturally, I'll deactivate my immortal status. Defeat me, and you beat the game. And all of the players will be able to log out. How about it?"

"No, Kirito-kun!" Asuna said. "For now… for now, we should fall back."

Kirito thought about the offer, and thought about all of the suffering and pain… and the anger that Kayaba had caused, that the game had wrought on the players. He thought about those who he watched die before him… Diabel, Sachi and the Moonlit Black Cats, and many others… and even Yui. He also remembered how much Asuna wanted to live… and for him to live so that they could both be together.

Finally, he spoke. "Don't insult me." Asuna gasped, and Kirito looked up to Kayaba. "That's fine. Let's finish this."

"Kirito-kun!" Asuna said.

"I'm sorry," Kirito said, looking down at her. "But I can't run away here."

"You aren't going to die here, right?" she asked.

"No," Kirito told her. I'm going to win. I'm going to win and end this game."

"All right," Asuna said. "I believe in you, Kirito-kun."

He let her down gently, as she was still paralyzed, and walked towards Heathcliff. As he moved, he reached behind his back, and drew his two swords. "Kirito! Don't!" "Kirito!" The players shouted for him not to risk his life for this.

"Agil," Kirito said. Agil looked up to him. "Thanks for helping to support the swordsman class." He turned back to him. "I know you spent nearly all the money you made helping the players during the middle zones to level." Then, Kirito looked to another friend. "Klein," he said. "I am really sorry for leaving you behind that day."

"D-damn it, Kirito!" Klein yelled at him as he started to cry. "Don't apologize… Don't you dare apologize to me now! I won't forgive you…" He shook his head. "I won't forgive you until you buy me a meal on the other side!"

"Got it," Kirito said back. He tapped the Elucidator to his shoulder. "See you on the other side." He looked at Asuna next, and then smiled before turning back to Heathcliff. "I'm sorry, but I have a request."

"What is it?"

"I don't plan on losing. But if I die here, I want you to make it so that Asuna can't kill herself, just for a little while."

"Very well." Heathcliff gave a nod to his enemy.

"Kirito-kun, no!" Asuna cried out to him. "You can't… You can't do that!" As she shouted, Heathcliff went through his menu, and lowered his health to match Kirito's by percentage, and deactivated his immortality status. Slowly, he drew his sword from his shield, and the two prepared for battle. "Kirito-kun!"

_This isn't a duel… _Kirito thought to himself, _We're fighting to kill. That's right! I'm going to kill him!_

And with that, the battle began. Kirito charged fast and mighty towards his enemy. He swung his blades left and right, Heathcliff blocking incoming attacks with his shield. Heathcliff swung his sword back, and missed by the hair on Kirito's head. Then, Kirito pushed forward, forcing him to back up.

_He was the one who designed the dual-wielding skill. He'll be able to block all the pre-programmed combos. I'll have to defeat him with my own power, without using the sword skills!_

_Faster!_

_I have to go faster!_

Kirito sped up more and more as the two danced around. Most of the attacks were going right into Heathcliff's shield, and as they moved, dust started to pick up from the battlefield. Metal clanged, and sparks flew through the sand, Kirito gritting his teeth and groaning with each strike.

At a point, Heathcliff slashed across Kirito's face, dealing a small portion of damage. Kirito went into his special ability, Starbolt Stream, but as predicted, Heathcliff was able to block the pre-programmed combination effectively.

_I'm sorry, Asuna… You, at least, need to live._

As Kirito thrust forward with a glowing sword, the blade broke on his enemy's shield. It was a surprise, and a horrifying moment as Kirito saw the pieces of the blade fly apart. "Farewell, Kirito-kun," Heathcliff said. He charged his weapon, and swung it down towards his enemy while he was still falling.

But before the weapon landed on Kirito, Asuna leapt into combat, and took the fatal blow in his place. She stumbled back, and fell into Kirito's arms. He looked at her, shocked. He took a gasp after watching the health bar around her fall to nothing, and then vanish. Before she left, she turned her head up to face him, and her lips formed a half-strength smile. "No, Asuna…" Kirito said, muttering to himself. "This can't… This can't be…"

Tears streamed down Asuna's face as she looked up at him. "I'm sorry," she said. Kirito's eyes shot open, tears rolling down his cheeks as well. "Goodbye." She closed her eyes, and her head tilted downward again. Her form glowed bright and then, it was all over, as she exploded into fragments of wire-framed data.

Kirito looked in shock, and started to wave his hands through the air at the bits of frame, trying to reach out for her as he cried, and choked on his tears and his pain. Finally, he dropped to his knees, and leaned forward, placing his hands on the ground.

"That was a surprise." Heathcliff didn't seem to care, as he raised his arms to shrug. "I don't believe I programmed a way to neutralize paralysis on your own." He looked up to the ceiling. "I guess these things happen sometimes."

Kirito clenched his fists on the ground, and reached for Asuna's own sword, left there after she vanished. He was sluggish as he pulled himself up, and Heathcliff watched him. Kirito barely had the will to move, and had little strength in the swing of his swords. Heathcliff simply stepped back and out of the way of the half-hearted attacks. He sighed, and knocked the Elucidator out of his hand, and it dropped on the ground behind him.

Before Kirito moved again, Heathcliff sank his large sword into the boy's chest, and drove it in deep, until it came out the other side of his body. Kirito looked down at the sword, and at his health bar, diminishing slowly… painfully slowly. He blinked his eyes shut.

_It's over now…_

He remembered Asuna's voice moments ago… "I believe in you, Kirito-kun."

Then, nothing… the text appearing and the only thing he could see: You are dead.

After he fell to the ground, his form shattering… something happened. Lights… swarming around where he was, reversing the effect. The lights were yellow, and unlike the shattered bits of data, round… granular specs.

He was suddenly back. Translucent, but back!

_Not yet…_

He stepped forward.

_Not yet!_

Heathcliff, stunned, stepped back from the ghost. Kirito lunged forward with a battle-cry, and shoved Asuna's blade back through Heathcliff, driving it all the way through the same as Heathcliff did him. Kirito watched his enemy's health drain into nothing.

_Is this good enough?_

The both of them shattered, and were destroyed.

* * *

><p><em>The Distant Past, Oberon's Throne Room, Alfheim Online<em>

Kirito found himself defeated, his own blade sunk into his back, pinning him to the ground after losing an unfair battle to save his one true love's life. "Is this my punishment?" he thought to himself. "… For thinking that I was the game's strongest hero? That I could save Asuna alone? Even though… I have no power at all…"

"Are you going to run away?" a voice asked.

"Are you going to run away?" it asked again.

"No…" Kirito thought. "I'm going to accept reality."

"Then you give in to it. The power of a system you once denied."

"I don't have a choice," Kirito responded. "I'm a player, and he's a GM."

"Those words make a mockery of our battle." Kayaba himself walked up to Kirito, and looked down at him. Kirito saw, and looked to him. "Our fight showed me the power of the human will. And the possibilities held by the future."

"You're…" Kirito said.

As Kayaba vanished, and Kirito was snapping back to virtual reality, he heard the voice still. "Stand up, Kirito-kun!"

Oberon was having his way with Asuna, as he arms were changed up over her head, held high. She was defenseless, and he was undressing her, tearing off articles of clothing. Kirito saw this, and summoned all the strength he had in him to start pushing himself up. Pain was now present, and it was hard, but he muscled through it.

Asuna saw this as she hanged there, topless. "Your attacks have no soul…" Kirito said. "The blades in that world hit harder…" Oberon looked back at him. "They hurt far more!" Kirito stood up, and the sword fell out of him. It should have been impossible.

"I guess some odd bugs are still left," Oberon said as he turned around and walked towards Kirito. He raised a hand to strike Kirito, but Kirito grabbed his arm, stopping him with ease.

"System login…" Kirito said. "ID Heathcliff."

"Wh-what?" Oberon questioned, stepping back. "What is that ID?!"

"System command," Kirito said. "Enable administrator privileges. Set ID Oberon to level one."

Oberon started to panic as he got the alert that he had his power removed. "Your ID outranks mine? That's impossible! I am the ruler! The creator! King of this world! It's God!"

"No, you're not," Kirito said. "You stole this world… And its people. You're a king of thieves, alone upon a stolen throne!"

"Y-you stupid kid… How dare you talk to me like that?!" Oberon threw his hand forward. "System command! Generate object ID Excalibur." The game did not hear him. "Listen to me you piece of crap! These…" He was flustered, and in a rage. "These are God's orders!"

Kirito looked to Asuna. "Just wait a little more, okay? This won't take long." She smiled at him, and nodded. She still believed. "System command!" Kirito shouted out. "Generate object ID Excalibur!" The game obeyed, and the weapon Excalibur appeared before him. He looked at it. "So, a single command is all it takes to summon a legendary weapon?" He gripped it as it finished materializing, and tossed it to Oberon.

Oberon caught it, but couldn't lift it high. Kirito kicked his own sword high into the air. It spun and whooshed around until it came back down, and he grabbed it in his hand. He pointed it at his enemy. "It's time to finish this fight," he said. "Between the king of thieves and a gilded hero! System command. Set pain absorber level to zero."

"Wh-what?" Oberon asked.

"Don't run away," Kirito told him. "He never did, no matter what happened! Not Kayaba Akihiko!"

"K-Kaya… Kayaba!" Oberon shouted out. "I see… That ID was…" Oberon was backing away from Kirito, afraid. "Why? Why do you interfere with me, even after death?! You're always this way!" He turned around after raising his sword in the air, and swung through the nothingness. "…Thinking you know everything! Taking everything I want!"

Kirito looked to him. "Sugou," he said. "I understand how you feel a little bit. I also lost to him, and then I had to work for him. However, I never wanted to be him. Unlike you…"

"You stupid kid!" Oberon moved to attack. His attacks were nothing. Kirito blocked them with ease in much the same way Heathcliff once blocked his own. "Damn it all!" Oberon moved to thrust Excalibur forward, but missed. Kirito left a small scratch on his cheek, and Oberon screamed out in pain. "That hurt!"

"Painful, isn't it?" Kirito asked, mocking him. "But you've hurt Asuna… far more!" He moved forward and struck, cutting Oberon's hand off.

"My hand!" Oberon cried out in pain. "My hand!" Kirito moved forward, and cut the fairy king in half. He grabbed the torso by the head, and tossed it up into the air. As he came back down, Oberon's body fell onto the large sword in Kirito's hands, head first.

* * *

><p><em>I see…<em>

The voice was like a whisper… like the thoughts in one's own mind.

_I see now… who you are, Kirito. I see what you have done. All too late… for me… But I… I have escaped death too._

* * *

><p>"It's really nothing personal," GothGod said as he sat on a rock near Lisbeth. "We just have to get some stuff done, and this was the fastest way to do it."<p>

Lisbeth glanced over at him, giving him a rude look. "It's nothing personal…" she said. "What kind of plan involves killing players by the thousands?"

He smirked at her, and then laughed a little. "It's not so much as a plan as a part of one. I don't want to give too much away, since you're going to live and one can never be too careful, but we need to make the ten thousandth player kill to move forward."

"Ten… ten thousandth?" Lisbeth looked at him and opened her mouth. "You're insane! So you got a dragon to exterminate… what would it have to be… nearly six thousand players for your plan?"

"More like two thousand…" GothGod said.

"Last I checked," Lisbeth said. "The death toll was just over two thousand."

"Just about four thousand players have died thus far since this death game began. So in total, there are nearly eight thousand player deaths."

"In total…" Lisbeth thought about it for a moment. "Wait a minute. You don't mean to say that—"

"Yes. The player deaths from Sword Art Online are counted. Smuldur promised us no more than two thousand corpses. Once he's finished, we'll be less than one hundred away from our objective."

"But… why would the deaths from another game more than six years ago now count towards your ten thousand?"

"I don't pretend to know everything. What I do know is my spell can only be finished by a player who executed the ten thousandth kill, and the death counter attached to that spell includes those who died in Sword Art Online."

"Smuldur returns," a whisper spoke, stopping the conversation. "He is weak."

"What?" GothGod looked off into the distance. Smuldur's health bar sat at around eighty percent. The mighty dragon crashed down near them, and folded in his wings. He looked down at GothGod, and growled angrily at him.

"Explain yourselves," the voice echoed out. It rumbled across the land.

"Explain what?" GothGod asked.

Smuldur roared at him, the sound and wind from his mouth knocking the Black Prophet backwards. "I flew to Newberg, and I had killed nearly eighteen hundred humans, but before I could finish, a band of heroes attacked me!"

"But… great dragon!" GothGod said standing up. "You have said yourself that your scales cannot be pierced by any weapon. No magic could injure you!"

"A band of champions armed with Silver Steel!" Smuldur shouted. "A metal that I have not seen in thousands of years, since the fall of Al'Kur! You have deceived me, whelp!"

"No!" GothGod said, holding up his hands. "I wouldn't dare attempt to break our trust. I collected payment in advance for you. Why would I—"

"Liar!" Smuldur shouted. "You sent me into a trap!" He flapped his wings, and the Death Oath were scattered about. Lisbeth was safe from the blast of wind, however, as Smuldur's tail had plucked her up, and held her away. As the dragon took to the air, he breathed his flames down upon Death Oath, and many of them were burned alive in a few mere seconds.

GothGod jumped out of the way, and began to flee the dragon. Smuldur took after him, and went to consume the fleeing player. At the last moment, just as the dragon's teeth snapped down, the Black Prophet activated a teleportation spell, and vanished. "GothGod!" Smuldur shouted. "My children will hunt you down to the ends of the world! There will be no safe place for you to hide!" His voice was so powerful that nearly five miles away, where GothGod had teleported to, could hear.

* * *

><p><em>More than once…<em>

* * *

><p>GothGod's ghost looked at his body, after being slain by Kirigaya Yuichi, in-game name: Sachui. He watched the party walk away after robbing him of the sands of time, and once they were gone… "System command!" he said. "Set player ID GothGod status to alive."<p>

* * *

><p><em>But no…<em>

The whispers continued, and GothGod became aware of himself. He was floating through an empty space.

"GothGod," a voice said to him. "Do you see now… the reason for your perdition? You have only bound yourself in misery and misfortune. Everything that has come to you was your fault!" GothGod looked down to see a winged figure on the ground. "Even for you, there is still forgiveness, you need only come and take it!"

_I am dead… and this… this is the place where I am kept, so I am not a threat. I am trapped here? I did… I died._

* * *

><p>GothGod blocked Kirito's Elucidator, only to have both of those other blades driven into his chest. He dropped to his knees, and watched as his health dwindled. He reached those swords, but the players still gripped them tight. He couldn't pull them out, and was too physically weak to activate a last second spell. His strength failed, and quietly he went, falling back from the blades and onto the ground, dead.<p>

* * *

><p>"GothGod," the voice rang out. "No soul will be destroyed as long as I have any say in it. How long will you wait before you repent, and come to the light?"<p>

_Repentance? I do not want repentance… what I want, I can no longer have._

As this transpired, GothGod saw in the distance a flash of light, like a great door opening.

_What is this I feel?_

Heathcliff, who stood on the ground, turned to see the doors of the afterlife open, and looked all the way through the other side at the player who had taken up the name Mokatso. "You fool…" he muttered.

_I died… no. I am dead. No! If he can… then anyone can! What do I want? I want to live… I want power… I want…_

"Vengeance!" His scream was terrifying, like the kind no human could possibly muster… something dark and evil. GothGod's very essence blasted for the door. The Angels of Aincrad were suddenly chasing after him in this endless, void landscape. "Kirito!" he then shouted.

As he plummeted towards the light, he kept up. "Kirito! Kirito! You have murdered me! You will suffer my wrath! I will kill you! I will kill your love, Asuna! I will kill your daughter, Yuichi! I will show you every bit of suffering, killing everyone you love in the most horrible ways I can imagine! Then, I will kill you! I will murder you! Kirito! I am coming for you! …"

"Kirito!"

"Kirito!"

"KIRITO!"

* * *

><p>As GothGod blasted free of the confines of his prisons, he was like a huge black mass. Mokatso saw this shroud escape, and saw in the mass eyes peering out at her, and out at everything. And he wasn't the only one. All of the unrepentant souls of the void came bursting out following him, but he was the largest, and most evil among them. As he swelled up, he called out to the others, and Mokatso could hear his voice calling.<p>

"Come!" It was sharp, and then dull. Overpowering and then a whisper. "Come all of you who wish to show the world its reckoning! Come with me, grant me your power! I will claim vengeance for us all!"

The lesser shrouds all swarmed around him, and he grew in size. Mokatso began to run. Soon, the blackness spread across the land, moving out in all directions. Wherever the shadows prevailed, life withered away and died, and wherever the gaze of GothGod and the others fell, the very air was tainted with the stench of death and decay.

"And what…" he shouted in his rage, looking everywhere to see the timer ticking down. It was fast approaching zero. "Is this? Escape… escape? There is no escape! This game will end exactly when I say it will! This world, and the real one… are mine!"

The shadows spread across the land faster than a dragon could fly. The mass of darkness went far and wide. It covered the expanse of the Nightmare Forest, and collected the remnants of the Darkness We Have Created. It went into Tartarus, and gathered up the remains of the monsters below. It went across the Caldera, and into the Kingdom of Al'kur, all the way into the Northern Mountains and soon it circled around Newberg.

* * *

><p>Four…<p>

Three…

Two…

One…

And then, the timer stopped. Kirito and the others looked around. He opened his menu, and went to check for an option to log out. Nothing. They all talked amongst themselves, wondering what was going on. Before long, they were teleported, and taken by force back to Newberg. Every player in the game was there, gathered as close to the center of the city as they could all fit.

They spotted the coming darkness, and Kirito drew his swords. Every player did the same, among those who had weapons.

"Kirito…" the shrill voice called out to the crowd. Twenty thousand sets of eyes all peered down at the city, looking at everyone there. "Kirito, Kirito, Kirito… Did you really think you could get rid of me that easily?" The darkness shrouded over the whole town, and no stars of moonlight could be seen. "I said that this game ends when I say it ends."

* * *

><p>In the real world, GothGod appeared to have control again as well. Every screen across the world was hijacked, and they were showing thousands of angles of what was happening inside of the game. Everyone watched on to see what was happening.<p>

* * *

><p>"After all…" GothGod said. "What would a game like this be without its final boss?"<p>

Kirito suddenly realized who it was. "GothGod," he said. The others looked at him, and prepared for the very worst.

The ground shook once, and then shook again, the shaking becoming a slow rumble. Players began to panic. Players began to scream as they saw something rising on the eastern edge of the city. A collection of bones, flesh, flies, maggots… every bit of vermin and every carcass were molded into one, but the most prevalent among them was the worms… the wriggling, slimy worms that covered every inch of the titanic monster's body. It appeared to look down at the players, and a name and hit point bar appeared. The name didn't appear all at once as other monsters' would. It was as if it was being typed out, and it said…

THE WORM THAT WALKS

Avatar of the Gothic God

Max Level Aberration

-The Final Boss-

"Guys," Kirito said. "Start sending out messages. We need to gather all of the high level players as far away from that thing as possible."

"What about the rest of them?" Asuna asked, shocked at his plan. "Let them all die?"

"Baka!" Kirito shouted at her, growing incredibly angry and fearful all at once. "It's the players I'm thinking about right now! Do you understand what this means?!" He calmed himself. "He has likely blocked off Kayaba's Angels from the world. That means no resurrection. Not only is it maximum level, but it's a hacked enemy. It's an aberration, and it threatens the real world too. We don't have a strategy. We don't have any organization! Our only hope is to regroup, organize, and develop a winning strategy. Their only hope is for us to defeat this boss within the next fifteen days before their resurrection timers expire!"

Asuna stared at him, and then looked all around her. The players were scattering, running in fear. She nodded, and found herself a ground mount to ride. The rest of them all mounted up, and Kirito led them away.

* * *

><p>A whole day had passed, and the Champions of Vearth had reformed. They were meeting in the maximum security prison which went beneath the ground, using it as a fortress. Casters had developed secret tunnels that gave them access to different parts of the city, but their movement was limited. In the initial attack, nearly fifty thousand had been killed off. Those remaining were running for their lives if they hadn't found a place to hide… and hiding places didn't tend to last long.<p>

Kirito's group had gathered Klover and Eulsam and they met in the central cell which once housed Taravel, to discuss their plans. "It's not just the boss," Klover said. "When it attacked, aberration adds cropped up, and started to fight back. We lost more than half of the Arctic Army. Of our former Champions guild, we are missing about seven hundred. We are in a lot of trouble here."

"The adds are strong enough as it is," Eulsam said. "Players are being systematically hunted down by them, and to be honest… I doubt we'll last fourteen more days much less defeat the boss in that time. We need a miracle."

"We don't have any miracles," Kirito said. "Pegasus isn't even online now. We've got no connection to the outside world, and we can't even be sure that they know what's going on right now. At some point, we're going to have to stand and fight. And I'd rather do that when we have more players left than a few, so the sooner the better."

Suddenly, there was a flash of light on the ground. The players drew weapons, and prepared to fight. Sparks of electricity shot out, and a figure appeared from the middle, rising up slowly. It was Heathcliff, but he was without wings.

"Heathcliff!" Kirito said, moving over to him. He fell to his knees and panted.

"Kirito," he said. "Everyone." He got up slowly, and took a seat on a near-by chair. "I have bad news. I don't know how much you know, but… in addition to what's happening in here, GothGod is waging a war against the realms where I housed the Angels of Aincrad and the Valkyries of Vearth. He has taken over the minds of the fallen players who committed crimes and had not yet repented and joined my choirs. They are as powerful and as invincible as my Angels… and as the Valkyries. That is why we have not been able to help thus far."

"There are more good players than bad, though," Asuna said. "Despite how many player killers there were, they were still a minority."

"That doesn't matter," Heathcliff said. "Out of those who have fallen, a small minority only ever joined the two elite guilds. I would elevate those who remain to maximum level, but I have been stripped of my powers. I am a normal player like you all now. Except with the war in the heavens, there is no place for our minds besides the black mass of corrupted fragments of human souls in the air."

The players all gasped, but they didn't really understand what that meant.

"That means…" Heathcliff said. "That if we fail, not only will players be trapped here, forever, but none of our former selves will exist any longer. We will all face an eternity in a hell that GothGod created. And he will rule over Earth too. The stakes have never been higher."

Eulsam nodded slowly. "Well, I hope you've got a super-weapon buried around here somewhere, then. Otherwise we are all doomed."

Heathcliff nodded, and smiled. "I had a series of items created a long time ago, and I've been saving them in case everything got totally fucked, like they are now. It will help, but it will, by no means, give us an instant victory." He pulled one of the items out. It was like nothing more than a glowing light that he held in his hand. "Divine Essence," he told them. "It will turn any item you use it on into a legendary item, but only has a duration of thirty days. The upgrade will cause any damage dealt with the weapons upgraded to become Divine-Typed… the only thing that can damage GothGod and these other beings like him."

Kirito took the light, and looked at it for a moment. He held up his Elucidator, and pushed the light into it. It lit up, and then stayed lit up, glowing with the Divine Essence. Heathcliff began to pull more of them out. "How many do we have?" Kirito asked.

"Hundreds," Heathcliff said. "So don't stop with your weapons. Upgrade your armor, too."

"This is helpful, sure," Eulsam said. "But it still won't be an easy fight. We're not even sure what GothGod can pull off now. And that army of worms and such… not easy enemies to face."

"You need to fight tonight," Heathcliff said. They all looked at him. "If heaven falls… so shall Vearth. If GothGod breaches our defenses, then tens of thousands like him will rain on you like a thunderstorm until every last one of you is snuffed out. You cannot possibly hope to win such a battle."

Eulsam laughed at that, and stood up. He took a few of the upgrade items, and started applying them. "Well then," he said. "Why wait? Let's march on out!"

"What is our plan?" Klover asked.

Eulsam kept on walking, a few of the players were going with him. "We have no chance of performing any flanks, or pulling off any strategy. We're out-matched, outnumbered, and surrounded. So we attack the enemy head on and pray for a miracle. It's all we have left."

"Kirito-kun," Asuna said. "Is that it? Is that our plan?"

Kirito thought, and gritted his teeth. There really was no alternative. He walked out after Eulsam. "Asuna," he said, stopping to look back at her. "Do you still believe in me?"

"Hai!" Asuna told him, standing up.

"Then it's time to fight once again. Champions of Vearth, prepare for combat."

Klover laughed at that, and stood up, holding his axe high. "A march straight up to death's very doors. We fight together, one last time…" He followed Kirito out, and everyone else moved with him.

* * *

><p>And so, the Champions of Vearth assembled at the town's center, and started to move towards the great boss in the distance. As they approached, GothGod's monstrous minions began to attack. The group split off as they moved, taking on the monsters as they moved along. When there weren't as many, they weren't difficult to handle, but soon, they were at the edge of the city, and across the broken plains, there were hundreds, and they were all moving to attack.<p>

"Well," Kirito said. "This is it." He raised his swords, but before he could lead the charge, a flash of light appeared in the air. What followed was sand… falling sand. It filled into a figure, slowly appearing before them until it appeared as a player… a player with a sand-filled cursor.

Yuichi was older this time. She dropped to the ground, and stood up. "Yuichi-chan!" Asuna called out as she read her in-game name. Asuna ran for her, and hugged her. "I didn't think I'd see you again."

She smiled, and nodded. "Yes," she said. "It's nice to see you again too." There was something different about her this time. She was happier, and optimistic. After the hug, she turned to the crowd. "Papa! I believe you wanted a miracle?" She bowed before him, and then smiled as she stood up straight. "So I'm here!"

Kirito shook his head in disbelief. It wasn't her presence that caught him off-guard, it was the fact that by her name, there was no level. "Yuichi," he said. "What… what level are you?"

"Max level!" she said. "It's been a long road, and I'm glad to say that I… we have all finally reached the end of it! We're here to help. You all can focus on GothGod, and we'll take care of this pathetic little army."

"We?" Kirito asked.

"I hope you don't mind…" she said. In the air, more flashes of light, and more falling sand. "I brought a few friends over to join the party!"

Next to Yuichi dropped a series of other players. Two of them unfurled huge sets of dragon wings. One was named Wrath, the other Ruin. In addition to those two, there were Kirito, Asuna, Klein, Leafa, Eulsam, Michiko, Xaela, Sampson and a few others who they did not recognize. Each of them was far older now.

The Champions of Vearth were all shocked to see this crowd form before them. "It's…"

"Kirigaya Kazuto," the future Kirito stated. His voice had grown a little deeper in the future. "Commander General of the Champions of Time!" There was a spark of lightning that trailed up his body, and he got into a combat stance. "Ultimate Swordsman!" As he drew his two weapons, which were unrecognizable, a series of blades all made of light were drawn all around him. He charged towards the army, and each of those blades all managed a foe of its own as he danced into the aberrations.

"Vice Commander, Yuuki Asuna! Ultimate Valkyrie!" She entered a Valkyrie State, except when her wings appeared, they multiplied, and she had six of them spread around her back. Her shield and spear were new, and unrecognizable. She charged into battle, the same as Kirito. "Champions of Time! Attack!"

The rest of the group drew weapons, each of them appearing to have a grand, "Ultimate" class. Yuichi was the last to join them. She smiled back to her parents in the current time. "Mama, Papa," she said. "Attack GothGod, but do not watch us fight at all. You will see things of the future you are not meant to know. And do not let me see or hear anything about the fight here today. If I ask, tell me that we did not appear, and that you alone led the players to victory." She giggled, and twirled around to join the fight, rushing forward.

The army was getting mowed down by these Champions of Time, and Kirito shook his head, looking back at the Champions of Vearth. "Champions of Vearth!" he shouted out to them. "Charge!" He mounted a horse, and it reared up before charging forward. The other players all followed him out towards the towering final boss in the distance.

As they approached GothGod, the huge aberration turned towards them, and a laugh could be heard coming from it. "I see you brought new friends to play with," the distorted voice spoke. "Your friends at the IVRTF have found a way in after all, no doubt. It's a security loophole I'll have to fix, but it's not matter. You do not stand a chance against me…"

As the approached, the boss raised one arm, all wriggling and falling apart, and slammed it against the ground as Kirito arrived. Zeeka blocked the attack by forming a series of earthen tunnels around the players. Even that crumbled afterwards though. The second arm started to come down. This time, other casters threw up shields to stop the attack. When the arm came down, it broke the shields, and bits of worms and other vermin fell from it.

Lisbeth flew into the air, holding Sampaon, and once she reached optimum height, threw him forward. The muscle man grew much larger as he activated his Bull Rage, and came down on GothGod with a duo of legendary axes. This first attack didn't even deal enough damage to read, nor did the continued attacks.

Asuna activate her Valkyrie State, and flew into the air after hurling a lightning staff into the monster. She immediately charged through the being, slashing with her sword, and blasted straight through to the other side.

The Worm raised both arms to crash them down on the players again. Sinon used her Starbolt Arrows to fire at the shoulders, and the explosions severed the arms, stopping the attack. Despite this, little damage was surfaced, and the arms grew back shortly after.

As the players got close enough to attack, they all dismounted. As they did, the vermin on the ground started to attack them, climbing up their bodies, biting if they could, and attempting to consume them. Doc opened his inventory, and sifted through some items he had prepared. He pulled out the tailbone of a rat, and started casting a spell. The vermin everywhere fled from the living players.

When Kirito arrived, he jumped towards the monster, and went into his Starburst Stream, slashing wildly. When he landed on the other side of the monster, he turned and continued attacking at its feet. Even as all of the players started their attacks, GothGod's health still read one-hundred percent. It took a full sixty seconds of sustained strikes before it dropped to ninety-nine.

The voice laughed again, and the monster even stopped attacking, and sat down on the ground. "Even when you see how resilient I am, you still have hope," he said. "Will fight on though, I wonder, when you witness my powers?" The monster held out a hand, and huge staff appeared for it to grab. He tapped one end against the ground, and then flipped it around over his head as he stood up. The staff slammed into the ground with such force, that it damaged and knocked back nearby players. He started casting a spell. He was unable to be interrupted in this form.

"Everyone!" Eulsam shouted. "Defend yourselves!"

But no defense would be suitable for what was to come. Beetles—scarabs from the body of the monster began to drop down, and they became like a sea of bugs, spreading out and attacking the players. They were no small vermin, but large pests, as large as the largest rats, and their bites… they hurt a lot. Players who didn't get back started to scream, being eaten alive by the summoned units.

It didn't take long for the sorcerers to start moving in. Fire, water and ice, they started blasting the creeps. They were easy to kill, but they came in numbers great, and kept pouring onto the field. The melee players all fled back, and Zeeka, along with other earth-capable mages, started to form blockades for the bugs. "There's too many of them!" she shouted.

Eulsam quickly tried to come up with a solution. Before he could, a flock of birds, ravens, all appeared from nowhere. These were huge birds, and they swooped down and started eating the carrion swarm. He looked around. "What happened?"

Zeeka shrugged. "Too many here to find who did it," she said. "But that's nature magic at work."

As the scarab beetles started to lose numbers, the earthen ramparts sank, and the melee players charged back in to join the fight. As they approached, Asuna's Valkyrie State ended, and she dropped to the ground. Kirito rejoined her, and the two fought side-by-side. There were still beetles, and they still attacked players, but there weren't as many.

GothGod still just stood there. "You don't know when to give up," he said. He tapped his staff again, and started casting another spell. When it was finished, nothing appeared to happen. But soon, the players—all of them—started to feel a pain of the skin. Kirito looked at Asuna, and panicked. "Asuna!" he shouted. She looked back, and then at herself. Their flesh appeared to be peeling away, like it was rotting at high speed.

Many players began to drop to their knees as the pain was too great to fight through. It was a series of priests and other holy casters that saved them this time. One by one, they cleansed the bodies of the players, and then they were able to heal properly. They started the attack again. GothGod sat at ninety-seven percent.

"We're going to run out of mana," Eulsam said to Kirito as he fought. "We need to cycle our healers and melee."

Kirito nodded. "Klover and you lead a group. I'll lead a group."

"Got it!" Eulsam said back. He started tapping players and calling them away, and as he did, he told Klover the plan. Many of the melee players began to fall back. Eulsam went back to where the healers and ranged players were, and started ordering their splits.

Kirito and Asuna led the main assault, and they kept on fighting for a while longer. GothGod tapped his staff to the ground again, and began casting another spell. "Switch!" Kirito shouted, and all of the melee still fighting pulled back, and Klover's group marched forward.

As Kirito watched the battle from a safe distance, he saw the spell start to work. This time, a dense cloud of gnats flew about the battlefield. The cloud was so thick, that it blocked their vision. They had move in close to heal and attack. It was worse than that though. The tiny insects could be inhaled into the lungs, and it started to suffocate players, causing great pain.

"Summoner!" Eulsam shouted. "Wherever you are! Frogs! Lizards! Spiders!" Sure enough, as directed, the ravens all fled the battle, and soon, all manner of frogs were entering in. The gnats started to dies down, but there was still a lot of them, and they were already doing serious damage to players. It would take more time for various casters to figure out how to cure those issues.

"Ninety-five percent," GothGod said. "I could destroy you all in an instant. But I am honestly amused by what you are doing." He began casting another spell, and Eulsam's group charged in to replace Klover's. Once the spell was finished, a strange bolt of lightning struck the players. "I am also the master of your sins… let them consume you…"

"Master of our sins?" Eulsam asked, confused. "What the hell kind of spell is that?" He kept on fighting, ignoring it for now. Before he knew it, he was under attack, by Kirito! He turned to defend himself, startled by the onslaught. "Kirito! What are you doing?"

"Something I should have done a long time ago!" he shouted back at him. "You betrayed our friendship with the woman I love! You deserve to die!"

"Sins… wrath? Envy?" Eulsam asked himself as he defended against Kirito's attacks. He would have switched to a Tri-Blade, but Michiko was using his. "Kirito!" he shouted. "Get back in line with the others, we'll settle this later!"

Meanwhile, back behind enemy lines, Asuna was watching Kirito and Eulsam fight. She was unexpectedly struck from behind, a blade driving through gut. "Kirito…" Michiko said. "Belongs to me, now…" Asuna pulled herself off of the weapon, and whipped around.

"Michiko!" she said as she was slowly healed. "What are you talking about?"

Xaela watched at first, but then jumped at her girlfriend, and tried to hold her back, using her spear as a cross-bar over her chest. "GothGod is turning us against one-another! Something about sins, so… seven deadly sins? Michiko is afflicted by Lust, or Greed… or Envy!"

"What do we do?" Asuna asked. Xaela shook her head. She didn't know.

"I can help!" Doc said as he came over. Same as freeing the mind control victims, he pulled out a dream catcher, and de-cursed Michiko.

The girl blinked, and then fell to her knees. "Asuna…" she said, "I'm so sorry…"

Asuna pulled her to her feet. "Get up," she said. "Nothing to be sorry for, it's time to fight. Help Doc make sure everyone is free of this curse!" She nodded, and got to work.

Asuna reactivated her Valkyrie State, and flew in to grab Kirito, and pull him back behind the lines, where Doc managed to cure him. Then, she went back in to fight the boss with all the might she could muster.

"That's a shame…" GothGod said to Asuna, looking directly at her through all of the strange eyes that encompassed the black shroud. "I really wish I could have seen that play out, but… I do wish a more painful death for you…" Kirito, now free, heard this, and ran for Asuna. "Let me show you!" GothGod shouted.

* * *

><p>Asuna woke up in a strange place. She looked around, finding herself in a mysterious void, held up by her arms, chained to some distant ceiling. She panicked, and looked around. GothGod, in his human form, appeared before her. He smiled, and looked around. "So this is what Asuna's nightmares look like," he said. "No fear of Kirito raping or killing you? I'm rather shocked. That's what I've usually found in the bad dreams of most girls."<p>

"Kirito cannot rape me," Asuna said to him. She hardened her resolve, and became fearless in the face of the enemy. "He couldn't because there wouldn't be a situation in which I wouldn't accept him. He can't kill me because we are bound to each other, so that if either of us dies, we both die. I can see through your trick, here. It won't work on me."

GothGod shook his head. "I guess not," he said. "I guess I'll have to fill in for him…" He rushed towards her, and reached a hand up her shirt. "Your mind is weak… from what Sugou did to you. I'll finish breaking it, and turn you into the weapon you were always destined to be!"

She gritted her teeth, and clenched her eyes shut. He pulled his hand away, and slapped her across the face. "No!" he shouted. "Eyes open! You have to watch this!"

She didn't respond, and when he slapped her again, she caught his hand in her mouth, and bit down hard. He screamed, and pulled it away, but she showed no mercy. He lost fingers before he freed his hand. "You bitch!" He punched her in the stomach, and she winced in pain. He snapped his other fingers, and his hand was healed. "You like to fight, then? Okay…"

"Leave her alone," a voice said.

GothGod turned around, and saw Kirito, as he appeared in Alfheim Online, approaching him with that large sword. "How are you here? That's impossible!"

"Kirito will always save me," Asuna said. "No matter where I am. This is in my head, I can tell. And you have no power here!"

Kirito lunged forward, and cut GothGod down.

* * *

><p>Suddenly, Asuna was back in the real world, lying on the ground. Kirito was looking over her, and she leaned up to kiss him quickly. Meanwhile, GothGod reeled back and gripped what might have been his head in pain. His health suddenly dropped another five percent.<p>

Kirito and Asuna both looked over to him. "Asuna," Kirito said. "What happened?"

"I invaded my mind, and tried to bring up my deepest fears," she said. "But I guess my mind was too much for him."

Kirito thought about it, and then smiled. He pulled Asuna to her feet, and then ran for GothGod. "Kirito!" Eulsam shouted. "Stay in your group!"

"I have an idea!" Kirito shouted back as he ran for GothGod. "GothGod! Whatever you tried with Asuna, it didn't work. You're powerless and you know it!"

GothGod looked down at him next, full of anger. "I'll show you what it's like… to be without power!"

* * *

><p>This time, Kirito woke up in a strange void. His hands were chained behind his back, and his legs were shackled to some invisible floor. GothGod, again in human form, approached him. "What are your fears, Kirito? What makes you tic?" He looked around, to see Asuna appear. She was lying on a hospital bed, wearing her nerve gear. Soon, the void turned into that room where Asuna was kept in the real world during Sword Art Online and Alfheim Online. "A loved one you cannot save?"<p>

He approached the girl, and grabbed a portion of her hair, and lifted it up to sniff at it. He looked back at Kirito, a crazed expression on his face. "How does it feel?" he asked. "Knowing that nothing you do can stop me from taking her if I wanted to… from hurting her and using her… from killing her?" He moved back over to Kirito, and reached a hand for his throat, choking him briefly. He laughed madly. "How does it feel? How does it feel?"

Kirito caught his breath once GothGod let him go, and was forced to watch as GothGod approached the bed again. "I'm going to go all the way… right here," he said.

Kirito took a deep breath, and let his fears leave him. "Go ahead," he said.

GothGod stopped, and turned around. "What? You can't be serious."

"Asuna knows that I'll do everything I can to save her, and that I always will. She believes in me, and she'll tough it out and wait no matter how long it takes. You can't break her, and so you can't break me."

GothGod snarled at him, like a wolf. "You can't save her, Kirito! I have control of the system. I could make this scene very real if I wanted to!"

"Besides…" Kirito said. "One thing I've learned since I got here…" As he spoke, the Asuna on the bed was awake, and she was wearing her full set of armor, and impaled GothGod with her spear. "Asuna can take care of herself."

GothGod screamed, and then jumped away from the nightmare that was turned back on him.

* * *

><p>That one hurt even more. GothGod cried out, and even stumbled back. His health now read eighty percent. "Baka!" he shouted. "I have all the power I need in this world and the real one! I control everything! I'll take whatever I want and no one can stop me!"<p>

Asuna pulled Kirito to his feet once he woke up, and he laughed at GothGod. "You're so powerful," he said. "But you can't even give us a single bad dream."

Eulsam watched this transpire, and then looked up to the avatar. "I don't know what's going on, but it's working wonders," he said. "Can I help?"

"Help?" GothGod asked him, leaning down. The eyes now stared at him. "Absolutely, let's talk about how much you can help…"

* * *

><p>When Eulsam awoke, he was not in a void, but in a place he recognized. He and Asuna were together in a room, the one he slept in in the keep before everything went to hell. They stood out on the balcony and watched the sun set in the distance.<p>

"Was it good?" Asuna asked him.

Eulsam was standing next to her, an arm around her when he became fully aware of himself. He gasped, and looked at her. He nodded slowly. "Yes," he said softly.

"I liked it," she said back as she leaned into him. "I think… I think I'm finally ready to fall in love again."

"Not with Kirito?" His lines were instinctive, he knew so well what was to be said that he didn't stop himself from saying it.

She shook her head. "I think about what we've done together. I think I'm falling in love with you."

Eulsam choked, and then forced himself to step back. That's when GothGod approached him. "What's the matter?" he asked. "She's yours for the taking. I can make it real. Reprogramming her mind at this point would be child's play." He pushed him back over to her. "Say it…"

"Asuna," he said. He shook in his spot. Then, he shook his head. "You belong with Kirito." It hurt him a little to say that, but he knew he had to.

GothGod frowned, and floated above Asuna, controlling her like a puppet. "After what we just did?" she asked. She turned towards him, and pushed at him. "After I've gone this far, you don't even love me back?"

"It's not like that!" Eulsam said. "I've had this dream a thousand times. It'd never going to work!"

"Make it work!" Asuna's voice changed. Now it was, like GothGod's mixed… distorted. "I confess my love for you and sleep with you and you want to break up with me?" Eulsam stepped back, and the next thing he knew, his hand was gripping one of his swords. "Kill me then… if I can't be with you, I would rather die than be with Kirito. And don't lie… you want me dead since I changed my mind. Do it… kill me…"

Eulsam drew his sword, and then dropped it to the ground. Asuna pulled her own sword, and struck his heart. "So weak," she said. "So pathetic! You can't even fight for love anymore! Doesn't it bug you at all that I'm with Kirito?"

"Yes!" he shouted at her. "It eats me up inside!"

"Don't you hate me? Don't you hate Kirito?"

"No…" Eulsam pulled the blade out of himself, and tossed it away. "Kirito is my friend, and so are you. I have to respect your decision because I do love you, even if it hurts… even if it makes me want to die."

"Then die already!" Asuna held out her hand, gesturing for the balcony. "Head first is a guaranteed killing blow with the stones."

"I am stronger than that," Eulsam said, finding the strength within himself. "Stronger than this."

"Well then," GothGod spoke. He came down to the ground, and walked towards him. "Aren't you just a noble little bastard? What else haunts you… Eulsam?" He touched Eulsam's head, and then the scenery all changed.

Eulsam found himself in a bedroom, standing just at the door. In his own bed, he saw his father on top of an ex-girlfriend. He shook in place, and the girl looked up at him. "Sam!" she said. His father pulled off of her, and laid beside her. "It's not what it looks like!"

He stood there, blank faced, and turned to leave the room. "Fuck that," GothGod said. "Kill the bitch!" GothGod grabbed his hand, and put a knife in it. "Kill your son of a bitch father, too! Then kill Kirito, and Asuna!"

Eulsam took the blade, and stabbed GothGod in the stomach. "Enough of you…" he said. "If I have to suffer, I will suffer. But I'll be damned sure that I'm pointing my swords at the right people before I swing!"

* * *

><p>Back in the fight, Eulsam woke up, and got up himself. He watched as GothGod reeled back, gripping his abdomen. "Had enough yet?" Eulsam shouted at him.<p>

GothGod screamed out, now at seventy-percent health. He started casting another spell. This time, it caused a rain of blood to fall from the sky. The players started to get sick, and it crippled them on the field of battle. "I will not fail!" he shouted. "You are all weak, and I'll prove it to you!"

Next, he targeted Michiko…

* * *

><p>"I don't believe you," Xaela said. "You say you love me, but your words mean nothing!" The girl was actually quite angry in this scene. She glared at Michiko, who blinked, and stepped back. "Why don't you love me, huh?" she asked. "You just want me for sex. You turned me into a little slut and damned me to hell!"<p>

"Xaela," Michiko said. She couldn't say anything else. Xaela was on the war path. She slapped Michiko across the face, and Michiko responded in reflex, slapping her back, but harder. When another hit came, Michiko stopped it in her hand. Then, she grabbed both hands, and pinned them up over Xaela's head. "Listen to me!"

"Tell me you love me!"

"I love you," Michiko said. "I know lust has controlled a great part of my life since… since my time with that monster, but I really do love you."

"Show her," GothGod spoke into Michiko's ear. "If she doesn't believe you, then show her what love is. How else can you tell her? How else would she be able to know?"

Michiko gave in at first, pressing forward to kiss her girlfriend's lips, and then pulled back. She narrowed her gaze, and felt something dark growing inside of her.

"There are too many demons… too many bad spirits you let inside of you to resist me now," GothGod said. "Finish it… if she won't believe, you make her believe! Ra—" GothGod was cut off as he saw something unexpected, Xaela leaning forward and kissing Michiko back. "What?" he asked. "That's not how this is supposed to happen! I watched you! I watched how you behaved with her until the day I died! I heard you speak your nightmares!"

Michiko smiled at him. "After you died, we turned this… negative memory into a positive one," she said with a sly smirk. "As you ought to know, I'm pretty kinky, but you should know it was her idea to do this one. A little morally gray, risqué rape-play stopped both of our nightmares."

GothGod raised a brow, and tilted his head. He waved his hand. "Well, then, how'bout—"

"How'bout you stay out of our new favorite dreams!" Xaela shouted at him as she drove her spear into him.

* * *

><p>GothGod was sent toppling backwards. His health was now down at fifty-five percent, and he looked through the crowd. "Surely…" he said. "Surely one among you must be corruptible! Surely one of you is at war with themselves inside!"<p>

His eyes became fixated on Sinon. She looked at the eyes, confused, and then, fell to the ground, asleep. A few moments later, his whole form split into pieces, and reformed. Forty-four percent. He pulled himself up, and screamed out. "Impossible!"

His eyes darted around from player to player. Each time, another blast would injure him further. Soon, the eyes in the sky were bloodshot, and his avatar's health was down to just five percent. The great Worm That Walks was now writhing on the ground, shrinking in size. Kirito and his core group approached him slowly, weapons ready.

As the worms fled his form, GothGod was left with his mere, mortal body, and he turned to look up at Kirito. "No… you've all suffered so much. You've been brought down. This game… I have hurt you more than anyone before me!"

"And yet, we stand here before you, today," Sampson told him.

"No…" he said. "No! This is supposed to hurt! Something like this, it's supposed to destroy you! You'll never be the same!"

Kirito sheathed his swords, and knelt down to the Gothic God. "But you're wrong," he said. "Don't you get it? You've done your worst, and we're all still standing both physically and mentally."

"It doesn't matter what you throw at us," Asuna said. "We have made friends with each other, we've formed lasting bonds here that we never would have otherwise. We're still friends after everything, and it just proves our strength."

GothGod laughed at her, and shook his head. "That's not how it works," he said. "It doesn't make any sense! Despite everything you've been through, you're still standing!"

"We aren't strong despite it," Klein said.

"We are strong because of it…" Lisbeth finished his thought.

"What is it," Michiko said. "That was so bad, that it broke you down so much, and made you such a force of evil? I've been raped, beaten bloody and tortured. I became the Black Warden. What happened to you?"

GothGod rose to his feet, and this time, the eyes all focused on him. "You want to know?" he said. "You want to experience my pain? Maybe that will show you… how cruel the world is!"

* * *

><p>GothGod himself awoke to find himself walking towards his kitchen. His mother got up from the couch, and turned to him. "What are you doing?"<p>

Asuna appeared near him, and looked between the two. "A beef with your mom?" she guessed. "We all have issues with our parents at some point in our lives. What's the deal here?"

"You'll see in a second…" GothGod said. He looked to his mother. "I'm just getting a snack, mother…"

"No food. It's too late for that."

"It's New Year's Eve, mother…"

Klein was the next one in. He laughed a little bit. "I remember one time I was caught sneaking food. Hey, this is the night the game started, isn't it?" He vanished after that.

"I don't care," she said. "You have been up late at night after you're finally done playing with that game of yours, screaming and making noises and waking everyone else up. Your sister is already asleep."

"Oh," Lisbeth said, walking in on the conversation. "So you already had an anger management problem. Why's that?"

GothGod shook his head. "My father died in Sword Art Online," he said. "After that, my mother started drinking, and everything went downhill from there." He turned again to his mom. "I'll be quiet, I promise…"

"No," she said, moving closer. "That's not good enough. You spend all your time in there, not doing homework. Don't you know you have to do good in school if you want to be happy? You're failing three classes!"

Silica was next. She got up from the couch as if she was sitting there the whole time. "True story. Why didn't you do your homework, though? Was it too hard for that big brain of yours?"

"Stop it…" GothGod said. "Don't defend her… the next part." He looked at her, and repeated the rude comment he made that night. "Is that what happened to you, mom?" The woman became irate, and approached him. "Sorry," he said. "I'm sorry!"

"No, you're not," Zeeka said as she sat on the kitchen counter. "You're being a little brat. Even I can see that."

"You think it's okay to talk to your mother like that?" She started to cry, but they were crocodile tears. "When your father died you looked me in the eye and you said you would be a good boy," she said. "You said I wouldn't have to worry about how you were doing in school, or what kind of music you listened to, or the kinds of girls you dated."

"Dad died five years ago, get over it!" GothGod shouted at her with the same rage he had that night. And she responded by hitting him hard across the face.

"Get over it?" Lisbeth asked him. "Like you clearly did?"

"Shut up!" he shouted at Lisbeth.

"And what have you been doing, huh? You started drinking again! You gave up on me!"

"You gave up on yourself, Cory!" Off in a bedroom down the hall, a girl started to cry. "You woke the baby up…"

Silica walked out of that same room, and the screaming stopped. "So much for not yelling and screaming," she said. "Making a great case for yourself… Cory."

GothGod shouted louder this time. "Shut up! You don't know what I've been through!"

"Isn't that what you were going to show us?" Michiko asked. "Isn't that what the point of all of this was?"

After he shouted, his mother went to attack her, and he defended himself. She threw a bottle at him, and he went for the kitchen knife. Eulsam appear next to him, and grabbed a hold of his hand. "So this is your solution?" he asked. "Kill her?"

"I defended myself!" he shouted back.

Eulsam shook his head. "I'm so glad I never defended myself, if this is what it would have turned me into."

"My father died in Sword Art Online!" he shouted. He looked Eulsam in the eye. "You… the beta player who wasn't there…" He then pointed to Asuna. "You… the one who pulled the hero out of the game for weeks!"

Then, Kirito appeared behind him. "And me," Kirito said. "Do you blame me because I didn't end the game in time to save him?" GothGod pulled his hand from Eulsam, and swung the knife at Kirito. Kirito stopped the attack easily with his Elucidator. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" he asked. "Sorry! Sorry doesn't bring my dad back! Sorry doesn't put my life back together! Sorry doesn't fix me and make it all better!"

"No," Kirito said to him. "Those things… you should have done yourself. You could have focused on school more. You could have been the strong one, and helped your mother when she fell into alcoholism. You could have been a better brother to your younger sister. It was you who became a murderer. You who chose this, darker path. You who decided to threaten the whole world and made yourself an enemy. You killed your mother."

GothGod blinked at him, and shook. "Cory," Asuna said. "If you could take it back… wouldn't you?"

GothGod shook his head, and turned to his mother. He pulled his jade sword out, and went to attack her. "Don't do it," Kirito said. It was too late. He struck the woman down without noticing the change. In place of his mother was himself, and then, everything shook as the dream ended.

* * *

><p>Back in Vearth, GothGod screamed as his body bled, and his health dropped down to zero. He exploded into bits of wire frame… data fragments, and all that was left was a floating plague mask that tumbled through the air.<p>

"I…" the whisper spoke. "Will return…" And then that too burst.

The darkness fled, and the sun shined over the players. The Angels of Aincrad flew into the game once again, and started resurrecting the mass of the dead players. Less than a full sixty seconds later, players began vanishing, logging out of the game.

Kirito and Asuna would be the last to go. They held each other's hands, and looked at each other. Before they logged out, the two of them shared a kiss.


End file.
